


Colorful World

by sky_fish



Category: Arashi (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, F/M, Humor, M/M, Romance, Slice of Life
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-03-30
Updated: 2017-04-19
Packaged: 2018-01-17 13:23:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 32,545
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1389280
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sky_fish/pseuds/sky_fish
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Jun moves out of their flat share to travel around the world, Sho searches for a new roommate. Out of a bad bunch of candidates, Nino seems to be the best fitting for this. What Sho doesn't know yet is, that his new roommate does not only bring his friends Ohno and Aiba from university on daily basis into the apartment but also a huge chaos right into Sho's life – in more than one way.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The best of a bad bunch

**Author's Note:**

> **Author’s note:** The idea for this story bugs me since over a year now so I finally wanted to start writing it (and then I totally forgot to post this XD oops). It’s loosely inspired by other slice of life stories like Honey  & Clover for example so similar settings and situations could be possible even if they are not intended :D. The story is meant to be more a collection of small episodes that happen to the different characters, so if you can't find any serious plot, don't wonder and just enjoy the moment. As always, thanks to my precious friend and beta-reader airifan. I'm sorry, I'm giving you a hard time lately as a writer, aren't I? o_O
> 
>  **Disclaimer:** I don't own Arashi but as you can imagine I would love to.

Finding a new roommate was quite difficult, Sho thought sighing after the fourth day of listening to candidates for the free room in his apartment. At least if you were searching for a nice and uncomplicated roommate. Someone that did not cause too much trouble, did not cling too much but respected private sphere, did participate in the daily duties of a flat share, did not bring random people he spent the night with to the apartment and stuff like that. 

His buddy Jun had been the perfect roommate. The young man was nice, friendly, not too loud, he never brought girls or other guests to the apartment that he used to share with Sho and he was an adorable cook! He concentrated on studying, was jobbing for saving money and in his spare time he enjoyed traveling. To sum it up, he was not around all the time so that Sho often could enjoy the silence to read or to watch a movie and when Jun was there he was quite silent and a nice company.

But now, after Jun finished his degree as the university’s youngest graduate in the last ten years or so (he was about one and a half year younger than Sho but Sho was still at least two years away from graduating), he had left Tokyo for at least one year to travel around the world, to take interesting photographs and to write articles about his journey. It was his dream to become a professional travel reporter and this was supposed to become his first big project for a publishing company that hired him on the spot at his first job interview. Long story short – Sho now needed a new roommate to afford the rent.

The reason why it was so difficult to find someone nice to live with might be that the area Sho lived in was not only near the campus of his own university where he studied economics and journalism, but it was also near the campus of a movie and arts school. Maybe Sho was too ambitious (or just too spoiled with Jun as the perfect roommate for the past two years) but most of the people applying for the room were just… well… weirdos.

Today there has been a total of three weirdos so far. 

The first one could have been quite nice, if he wasn’t such an annoying chatterbox and if he didn’t own a cat. Not that Sho didn’t like cats, but he just wasn’t interested in letting a man who talked twice as fast and ten times as much as he did (and most of it was about his cat) move in. As soon as Sho had told him that he would decide later on and call him then, the guy had put out his phone and set a call to his mother to ask her for bringing “Nyanta” to the phone so that he could tell him that they probably found a new home. Sho closed the door behind the guy and threw his contact data into the trashcan in the kitchen.

The second one had been a self-appointed writer. A really strange writer and Sho had never heard of him. He was scribbling something into his notebook the whole time and barely looked at Sho as he asked him some questions. His hair looked like his styling example was Albert Einstein – expect from that his hair was black. His glasses looked as crooked and ruined like J. K. Rowling had described Harry Potter’s glasses at the beginning of the first volume and the look in his eyes was just crazy. When he suddenly started to talk to an imaginary cat (what was that with cats today anyways?!), Sho had even become a little bit scared. 

The third weirdo of the day looked a lot nicer. And calmer. In fact, he looked like he would fall asleep any second. He didn’t really seem to pay attention to what Sho was talking to him and therefore let his eyes wander through the apartment. 

“You really have nice daylight in here,” the young man murmured.

His face was partically covered with dried paint, his hoodie and his hands as well. As the young man started rubbing his fingers so that some of the dried paint crumbled down onto the floor, Sho grimaced. His poor floor…

“You are an art student?” Sho finally asked the obvious as he took a look at the application which was not only filled with the required information but also showed some spots of paint here and there, a smear under the signature and instead of a photograph a small but really detailed and well done self-portrait.

“Eh? Oh… un,” the other answered as he seemed to come back from outer space. 

Sho cleared his throat. “Which year?” he asked.

“Uhm… last year, hopefully. I plan to finish my final project within the next two or three semesters or so,” the sleepy looking man answered.

“What is it about?” Sho asked to show some interest.

“Fishes.”

Sho frowned, “Fishes?”

The sleepy student nodded and finally lowered the gaze of his eyes to meet Sho’s wondering look, “I’m specializing in painting fishes. Do you like fishes?”

Sho frowned even more, “No, not really...”

“Hm.”

\-----

After Sho had promised the art student to give him a call by the end of the week, he checked the postbox in front of his door as he could see the edge of something colorful sticking out. He pulled at it and smiling noted that it was a postcard from Jakarta. 

_“Hey Sho,_

_How are things in Japan? The next semester is coming up soon, right? Did you already find someone that wants to live in my room? Don't be too picky with your new roommate! Jakarta is great and the food is really tasty! Did you ever try Pepes Ikan? I love it! I’ll cook it for you once I’m back!_

_Take care,  
Jun”_

Reading the few lines on the postcard, it seemed clear that Jun was totally enjoying himself and Sho somehow felt a bit lonely right now. It was true that he enjoyed that Jun had not been that often around and that he wasn't one of a clingy friend at all, but living together with someone had been quite nice. Not as lonely as the past weeks now since Jun had moved out. Sho pinned Jun’s postcard onto the pin board in the hall way between the kitchen and the living room where he had started to collect all postcards of his friend. Jun never missed to send Sho a card, no matter where he was, if somewhere in Japan – even the next city – or from overseas. And the collection grew and grew every week.

Sho slumped down onto the couch in the living room. He sighed deeply before he took one of the huge pillows to hug it and curled up on the comfortable couch. He was feeling lonely. And thinking about the bunch of idiots he just had listened to today, he didn’t feel quite positive about a nice future roommate. Why was that so hard? Was he too picky?

\-----

A few hours of sulking later during which Sho should better have prepared some of his holiday homework for the upcoming semester, the doorbell rang. Sho jerkily sat up from the couch where he was watching some random movie at the moment and frowned wondering. He didn’t expect another weirdo today, neither some friends (well, that was maybe because besides Jun he didn’t really have friends, to put it straight).

He pushed away the pillow and got up, straightening his slightly messy hair from rolling around on the couch and went towards the door. Since he didn't know who this could be, he didn't just open the door but first took a peak through the door viewer to check out the gatecrasher.

First he could only see a bunch of dark hair. Seemed to be someone, checking his shoes or something. As the visitor lifted his face and leaned a bit closer to ring the doorbell again before stepped back, Sho could finally see more details. It was a young man, wearing a bunch of colorful clothes and holding a sketchbook under his arm. Was that another weirdo from the art school? 

Finally Sho opened the door and the relieved expression in those incredible beautiful brown eyes of the tousled haired guy and the happy smile he flashed at Sho, made Sho's heart cringe for a moment, just as if Cupid had shot him on the spot.

The stranger then looked at Sho curiously who just stood there and stared at him, without saying anything. The young man's lips formed another cute smile and he reached out his hand to greet Sho.

“Hi, I'm Ninomiya Kazunari, nice to meet you,” he joyfully shook Sho's hand who had reached out his own automatically as well, “Sakurai Sho, right? I just found your advertisement on the internet a few minutes ago, you're searching for a roommate?” he said, pointing at the smart phone in his left hand, “I happened to be around so I thought I could try dropping by to see if you're here.”

Sho was still staring at the young man, Ninomiya, not saying anything and still wondering what this – even if a bit weird looking – cute, tiny Prince Charming was doing in front of his door. If he possibly could keep him? Sho blushed. Ah, wait, didn't the stranger just tell him what he wanted? Maybe Sho should have paid a bit more attention to what the guy was saying instead of just adoring his cute face...

“Uhm... is the room still free?” the young man smiled again, darting his curious eyes at Sho. If this guy really was a weirdo from the art school, he was the cutest weirdo he ever saw, Sho thought.

“Ah, yes, of course, I didn't decide on a roommate yet,” Sho finally managed to answer, blushing even more as the other pulled him out of his daydreaming. He stepped back to open the door a bit more, “Why don't you come in so that we can talk a little, Ninomiya-san?”

Smiling even broader, the dark haired guy nodded thankfully and followed Sho inside.

“Call me Nino, please!”

\-----

“This apartment is really nice!” the cute guy – Nino – said, impressed by the colorful and western style organized apartment, “Therefore the rent isn't that high, right?”

“That's right, the rent is quite cheap but unfortunately too much for me to bear it alone. Another advantage is, it's completed with furniture, even the bedroom. You can use the stuff from my former roommate, he left the country for a journey around the world and said he doesn't need his stuff in the meantime . The rooms are quite big with a lot of space to store things. In the kitchen there is a table with seats so meals can be made and eaten in the same place and the bathroom has a tube and a shower,” Sho explained and let Nino take a short look into all of the said rooms before they settled down in the living room. 

Sho had handed his guest a glass of water. Nino looked around curiously and smiled as he noted the shelf filled with Sho's books and movies next to the TV screen. He got up again to approach the shelf and to take a closer look. Nodding and smiling he went through some titles and then turned around to Sho, pointing at the shelf.

“So you like books and movies?” Nino asked curiously.

Sho nodded, “I read a lot and I love movies. I often write critiques for the campus-magazine of my university,” he added a bit shyly.

“Oh, really? That's awesome! I love movies as well!” Nino chuckled and turned back to sit at the living room table together with Sho again, “You know, I'm studying film production and directing. I aim to become a director one day,” Nino said and his eyes were shining bright from excitement.

That excitement let Sho's heart skip a beat (again) and suddenly he imagined himself and Nino sitting next to each other on the couch, watching a movie, his arm shyly lifting and settling around Nino's shoulder, the other then cuddling a bit closer with shining eyes and his cute smile on his lips.

Sho slightly shook his head and cleared his throat before taking a sip of his water to return from wonderland, “So, when do you think you can move in?”

Nino looked at him with a surprised face, “Eh? Seriously? I can move in? I didn't even give you all my data!”

Sho nodded, hoping that Nino didn't notice his blushing cheeks. Well, who was the weirdo now?

 

TBC


	2. You always meet twice

Maybe Sho should have asked Nino a few more questions than only “When can you move in?”. At least some few more to get to know him a bit better, to get to know about his way of living, his way of thinking, just a few more details.

But Sho hadn’t asked and just picked Nino as his new roommate on the basis of their common interest in movies - and Nino’s looks. Sho liked Nino’s look. He was cute. And handsome. And looking at his eyes, looking at his smile, made Sho’s heart skip a beat and he didn’t have that feeling in a while, what must have resulted in some sort of panic reaction of his brain cells, that let him invite the other to move in on the spot.

Anyways, Sho _really_ should have asked Nino a few more questions. Surely it would have saved him a lot of trouble. Not that any of the trouble he went through because of Nino would change his mind about Nino himself (namely that he was the cute handsome guy with common interest that he simply liked and who attracted Sho more than he possibly should) but maybe he would have reconsidered about the choice of his new _roommate_ then. Honestly spoken, a lot of stuff that Sho quickly learned about Nino within the first few days after the other moved in didn’t really fit his requirements about a good roommate.

First, Nino was a horrible cook, just like Sho was. The only things that he could cook were instant ramen, especially crispy – as Nino called it - fried egg or rice (well, actually that didn’t really count either, since the rice cooker was the one doing all the work). So he and Sho either ate that – trying to ignore the slightly burned taste of the egg – or they ordered something from the cheapest delivery service from the area. In moments like these, Sho really missed Jun or wished he had at least taken his mother’s advice of learning how to cook serious.

Second, Nino was, well, not messy, he was chaotic. A lot. He let his stuff lying around in the living room and everywhere else, for example his notes, his half read books, everything. And then he couldn't find his stuff and searched through the whole apartment - leaving behind an even bigger chaos – just to find what he was searching for in the kitchen under the muesli package. His chaotic behavior must be natural, Sho thought. At least, Nino was an artist. Not that he had any artistic painting skills – like Sho quickly learned as he once took a glimpse of a simply horrible bad drawn storyboard by Nino – but he was definitely a creative mind. Always busy, making notes, scribbling down ideas, testing stuff like taking photos, arranging stuff, filming and what else he did for making his movies.

Which lead to third, Nino was almost never seen without his hand cam. Sometimes he taped stuff like Sho eating breakfast, Sho reading the newspaper, Sho sitting in the living room and watching a movie, Sho buying groceries (of course Nino couldn’t help carrying stuff then because “Man, I'm already carrying the camera!”), Sho coming out of the shower naked, Sho screaming at the shock of seeing Nino filming him while coming out of the shower naked, simply Sho doing whatever. Without asking him, by the way. When Sho – dressed in only a towel around his waist - asked Nino what the fuck he was doing all the time, Nino had declared that this was just collecting material and testing camera angles and stuff and as Nino finally asked Sho for permission to film his every actions – looking at him with adorable cute puppy eyes – Sho finally gave in. Nino’s next take had been “How it looks like to jump at someone for an embrace while holding a hand cam” and Sho thought that _this_ had absolutely been worth it.

But there was even more. 

Fourth – and that was what Sho bugged the most – Nino seemed to be someone that couldn’t be alone for a long time. He was always busy with other people. If he wasn’t on the phone or babbling with Sho (who sometimes would prefer a bit silence to do his homework but on the other hand he somehow just _liked_ spending time with Nino, no matter how much the other was babbling), he invited friends over to his and Sho’s apartment. Of course – again - without asking the other.

It seemed that Nino - on the contrary to Sho - had quite a lot of friends. He was popular (and Sho could totally get, why) and so almost every day he dragged along someone, if not his best friend - Aiba Masaki, a really loud and cheerful guy – then it was someone else.

One day, Nino came back with not only a bag filled with Chinese food from the store around the corner but also dragging along a sleepy looking young man with brown disheveled hair. Sho, who was stepping out of the kitchen, checking on what was that nice smell Nino brought along, widened his eyes in shock as he recognized said man as the one weirdo who had applied for the free room in Sho’s apartment just a few hours before Nino had shown up - the fish painting weirdo.

“Oh!” was everything, Sho could say.

“Ah, Sho,” Nino had already switched to call Sho by his given name on the day after moving in, “I brought a friend along, I bought one more set of dinner, don’t worry,” Nino smiled his adorable smile and went into the kitchen to put the food onto the table. As he went back, he stood between Sho and his friend to introduce them.

“Sho – Ohno Satoshi, my friend from art school, I sometimes feature his works in my projects and he helps me with my storyboards. Oh-chan – Sakurai Sho, my roommate and victim for my filming experiments,” Nino smiled broadly, pointing at the two of them, letting his eyes wander between them to see their reactions – which were a bit different from what he had imagined.

Sho just bowed slowly, looking a bit embarrassed at Ohno and pulled his lips between his teeth as he already prepared for what was coming next. A guilty conscience climbed up his throat. Ohno put on an annoyed look and lifted his hand to point at Sho.

“You _never_ called me,” he insulted Sho and Nino just frowned at him, “Nino, I already thought that mansion was familiar but I didn’t know you moved in with _him_!”

“What?” Nino asked confused, “You know each other?”

“Uhm…” Sho wanted to start an explanation but got cut off by Ohno instead.

“I applied for the room in this apartment as well and he never called me like he promised to tell me if I get the room or not. Well, I guess that’s a _no_ ,” the brown-haired guy stated, pursing his lips slightly. 

Sho brushed his hand over his face, sighing deeply and Nino just gaped at them.

“I’m sorry,” Sho murmured and fled back into the kitchen, opening the fridge just to return with two cans of beer he offered to Ohno and Nino with a shy, apologetic smile.

“Ah~ I really like this place, I would have loved to move in here,” Ohno complained with a huge sigh as he took his beer and followed Sho and Nino into the kitchen to grab some food, “You know, the daylight here is great – ideal for painting!” 

“I know, right?!” Nino chimed in enthusiastically, nodding after he took a sip of beer, “The light in the living room is awesome! Perfect for filming!”

“Ne, Nino, do you think I can drop by sometimes with my stuff to paint here?” Ohno finally asked, darting his eyes at Sho, who almost choked on his own can of beer that he just had opened.

“Ah, of course! As long as it fits into my filming schedule, I think that’s fine, ne, Sho?” 

It was unfair, when Nino was flashing his cute smile at Sho, the other thought, _so unfair_! Of course he agreed, even if he could barely resist punching the fish painting weirdo right into his face as he saw the satisfied grin dancing on the others man’ lips, his eyes squeezed to small crescents.

Anyways, somehow Sho managed to cope with all this stuff better than he expected and at the latest as Nino, sitting next to him on the couch, let out his adorable laughter an hours later as the three men were hanging out in the living room, watching a movie and drinking some more beers, Sho had forgotten Ohno’s monkey business from before. 

Sho blushed, as Nino's shoulder slightly brushed his as the other made himself more comfortable on the couch. He took another sip of his beer. Well, a little crush on your roommate could make you forgive a lot of stuff, right?

TBC


	3. Of the Disadvantages (and Advantages) of not having the number of People you share your Apartment with

It was about five days since Nino had moved in and somehow Sho found himself on the campus of the Arts and movie school in the afternoon. Usually he went a looong way round it because he has been – and still was – of the opinion, that he didn’t have any chemistry with people from there and he wasn’t that willing to run into them. Even since Nino had moved in, his opinion has not really changed, but he definitely had found an exception and it surely was because of exactly that exception, that he prowled around the campus right now, looking quite lost somehow between all those guys and girls carrying paintings, paint buckets, cameras and such.

To his apology – Sho had found an important looking book about film directing with lots of sticky notes in it lying in the entrance area of his apartment when he just wanted to go out shopping for groceries and it looked like Nino had dropped it when leaving for his afternoon classes. Maybe he needed it. But Sho didn’t have Nino’s cell phone number yet so he couldn't ask him and well, since he wanted to go out shopping anyways, this was a nice opportunity to drop by the campus, even if he made detour for that. The question now was, how to find Nino among this bunch of slobs.

When Sho asked some random guy about Nino, it was no surprise that he actually knew Nino but since he wasn’t part of the movie class, he unfortunately couldn’t tell Sho where the other could be right now. With the next one, Sho wasn’t lucky either and when he suddenly saw that strange guy Ohno Satoshi strolling around the campus wearing an overall covered with paint splatters and carrying a big canvas, he cringed. He slowly turned on his heels to walk into the other direction before the other could spot him but it seemed already too late.

“Oi, Sakurai-kun!” Ohno yelled his name from behind and Sho, taking a deep breath, slowly turned around again, wearing a small faked smile.

“Ah~, Ohno-kun, what a coincidence to meet you here,” he chuckled.

“I’m studying here and you know that, so I guess that’s not that much of a coincidence, is it? What are you doing here?” Ohno frowned with his usual tired look as he came closer and put the canvas down next to him.

“Actually, I’m searching for Nino, I wanted to give him this book, I think he forgot it at home and might need it,” Sho answered in a low voice, showing said book to Ohno.

“Ah, I see,” the student answered nodding.

Sho looked at him wondering when Ohno didn’t seem to want to say more than just that. “Uhm…,” he continued, “Do you know where he is right now, maybe?” Sho finally asked.

“No,” Ohno just shook his head.

“Alright, I’m going to search for him then, see you,” Sho turned around and walked away but noticed after a few steps, that Ohno had started to follow him. When he looked back again, the other just looked at him with a calm face.

“You have some business with me or something?” Sho asked insecure, wondering what the other could want.

“No, not really,” Ohno just shook his head again.

“And why are you following me then?” as Sho had already figured out the first time he met Ohno, he was really a weird guy.

“I thought if you’re going to Nino I follow you because I wanted to meet him too,” Ohno stated naturally, shrugging his shoulders, “Then I don’t have to search for him on my own later on.”

That made surprisingly much sense, Sho thought and sighed deeply. So now he had that fish painting weirdo in tow. Great. Honestly, he had wished to meet Nino alone but well, Sho decided to try to ignore Ohno as much as he could. After talking to another student, Sho got sent into one of the school’s buildings. Nino was supposed to have classes on the third floor, a female student from his faculty had known and it didn’t take long until Sho and Ohno found said classes but there was no trace of Nino anywhere.

“You’re pretty useless,” Ohno stated coldly, “By the way, did you really come here just because you thought he might need it? You could have just called him and he would have come back to get it.”

Sho shot a death glare at him and just as he wanted to tell him, that he would have called him if he had Nino's number, someone slapped his shoulder from behind and Sho jumped in shock. When the young man turned around, he faced Aiba Masaki - Nino’s best friend, a pretty loud guy, who Sho knew from when he helped Nino moving in a few days ago - who seemed to walk along to his own classes.

“Ah, Aiba-kun!”

The cheerful guy lifted his hand and flashed a wide smile at him, “Yo, Sho-kun!,” somehow Aiba called him like that from the start, maybe because this was how Nino introduced him to Aiba, “What a nice surprise! What are you doing here?”

“Actually I was searching for Nino, he -“ Sho started but Aiba cut him off halfway, looking at him with big eyes.

“Nino? Oh, he just left a minute ago, he said he forgot something important at home!” Sho face palmed and Aiba looked at him questioning, “You’re alright?”

“I guess he meant his lecture book?” Sho asked and Aiba nodded surprised, “I came here to bring it...”

“Ah! My lecture book!” someone bumped into Sho from behind and surprised, the taller one turned around just to spot Nino with a wide smile on his face, which paid off for all the trouble, Sho went through so far, “You brought it for me? Thank you so much!” Nino said gladly when he took the book in one of his hands before he rested the other on Sho's shoulder, “You really saved me!”

“Ah, don't mention it, it looked important so I thought...,” Sho started, smiling slightly embarrassed because of Nino's thankfulness (and the touch!) and brushed one of his hands through his hair. When he noticed Ohno's not amused look, Sho stopped.

“Nino, didn't you want to go home?” Aiba asked but when suddenly another student came closer and handed Nino a wallet, he understood.

“Thanks for calling me, Toma-kun,” and turning to the others he explained, “I forgot my wallet!”

While Sho was wondering what kind of an airhead Nino was, forgetting two things in a row within one day, Ohno stated, how useful it was to know the cell phone number of people, clearly hitting Sho's weak spot on purpose. When Sho left the campus again, he still had Ohno in tow, who claimed, that he wanted to paint something in Sho’s living room. Somehow, Sho had the feeling that this was just an excuse made up by Ohno to keep an eye on him but he didn’t feel like fighting against that and so he just rolled his eyes and kept on walking home with Ohno still following his steps.

\-----

A few days later, when Sho entered the door to his apartment, he was confused.

“Nino! What the hell is going on here?!” Sho asked, when he got welcomed by a loud jumble of voices coming from his living room.

Just the moment, his roommate poked his head out of the kitchen, smiled happily as he saw Sho and then dragged him along into the living room, just the second after Sho had got rid of his shoes at the entrance.

“I’m sorry for the mess but my friends decided to show up to finally celebrate a small housewarming party,” Nino chuckled. He seemed to be already a bit drunk, his eyes were glassy and his cheeks and nose had a light shade of red, making him look incredibly cute, “Come sit down with me and have a beer with us!”

Sho let out a deep sigh, seeing his already planned evening (reading a book in silence) drifting away and let himself get pulled down onto the floor of the living room next to Nino, which was indeed already messy with packaging of snacks, empty cans of beer and more stuff, Sho did not really want to know what exactly it was as long as Nino took care to throw it away after the party. He recognized some already familiar faces, all friends of Nino had showed up just this time they were all stuffed together. There was Aiba Masaki, Nino’s best friend forever, then – again - that fish weirdo Ohno, the one called Toma, who seemed to be a pretty quiet guy, already dead drunken Nishikido Ryo alongside with his embarrassed girlfriend Yui-chan, who tried to hide a can of beer from him and a handful of other students from the movie and arts school. Sho’s apartment never has been that busy before.

“It would have been nice if you have warned me,” Sho pouted towards Nino, who offered him some Yakitori to snack.

Nino tilted his head and smiled at Sho excusing, “I’m really sorry. It was quite spontaneous. I would have told you but then I realized I still don’t have your cell phone number,” Nino said chuckling and put out his own phone, “Could we do something against that, by the way?” he smiled and Sho's heart stopped beating for a moment.

Blushing slightly, Sho nodded and hurriedly searched for his phone to exchange contact data with Nino. He couldn’t provide his heart from pounding a little faster (as it started beating again) when the other announced with a smile that he would text him next time before he invited a bunch of people over.

“Ah, by the way, look, Sho! Oh-chan gave me one of his gorgeous paintings as a house warming gift! Isn’t it just awesome? And it fits just perfectly in our living room above the couch, right?” Nino gestured proudly to where he had hung up a mainly blue-green colored picture which caused Sho's eyes to widen in horror as he saw it.

It was painted in a quite abstract way with thin and bold strokes of painting brushes mixed on the with a bunch of paint layers decorated canvas but Sho could see what it was supposed to show. It showed the sky and the sea with the beach and on top of that... fishes. Flying fishes...

Sho still didn’t like fishes, no matter if they had wings or not but when cute, slightly drunken Nino chuckled again in his just too cute way and dropped his head to rest on Sho’s shoulder, Sho decided not to say anything and just to take a sip of his beer to hide his blushing cheeks.

TBC


	4. Picnic

„Ne, Sho-chan,” Nino didn’t even bother to knock when he entered Sho’s room on a Friday evening.

As so often, the young man had his camera on hand and was filming random things inside of the apartment including Sho who was sitting in his room at his desk while working on some papers for university. He was already used to Nino barging into his room without warning from time to time (he even appreciated it in some way) and had already developed the habit of locking his room with a key if he _really_ didn’t want to get disturbed like for example when he was doing something… well… dirty.

“What is it, Nino? Wait a second, yeah?” Sho asked, not taking his look from his work, since he at least wanted to finish the sentence before he could concentrate onto his roommate.

Nino wasn’t that patient and already had approached the other from behind so that he could put his arms around each side of Sho’s head to have a better view onto his computer which he was filming now with his camera. Sho immediately froze in his movement and over the fact of having Nino so close that he could smell the fruity scent of his shampoo; his brain went totally blank about how he had wanted to continue his sentence.

“You know, we would like to go on a picnic in the park near the campus on Sunday, you want to join us?” Nino’s voice asked right next to Sho’s ear as he leaned his chin onto the other’s shoulder.

“Picnic?” Sho asked curiously.

“Yeah, everybody is bringing along something to eat and then we gather with some beer and such,” Nino continued, his hand cam still focusing onto the blinking curser of Sho’s document.

Sho frowned, “Wait, we have to cook something?”

“Well, that would be appreciated. Of course, you can also _buy_ something to snack.”

“Hm…,” Sho hesitated, “I read about a receipt for potato salad, sounded pretty easy, maybe I can try that,” he finally said and Nino nodded excited.

“Sounds great! I want to try Sho-chan’s potato salad!” he giggled and finally let his arms slip from Sho’s shoulders when he heard his cell phone ringing from the living room. Sho immediately missed the closeness of the other and had to suppress the urge of hugging Nino to keep him close.

“By the way, there’s a typo at the beginning of the last sentence,” Nino grinned as he shut down his camera and Sho quickly turned around embarrassed to check his writing.

Nino finally left Sho’s room to pick up his phone outside and started a conversation with Aiba about some meet up. Shortly after, he entered the room again, flashing a cute smile towards Sho who looked at him with questioning eyes.

“Cinema? Now?” was everything he had to ask before Sho completely dropped his work and headed after his roommate, the sentence with the typo still unfinished but right now, he couldn’t care less.

\-----

“Sakurai-kun…,” Ohno asked critically as soon as he eyed the box in Sho’s hands as the other man put it out of his backpack to place it on the picnic blanket the group of friends had set up, “What exactly is this supposed to be?”

Sho frowned and looked a bit embarrassed at the box of food, filled with some maybe too big, clumsily peeled potatoes, decorated with some green stuff and covered in an oily sauce.

“Can’t you tell? That’s potato salad,” Sho decided to act as if everything was normal. 

In fact, he indeed knew that he mixed up something from the receipt he had heard of but when he realized that he had forgotten to cut the potatoes, Nino - who hadn’t paid attention at what was Sho up to – had been already standing in the doorway, impatiently waiting for their departure and so Sho had just closed the box and hoped that nobody would notice his mistake.

“It looks like potatoes drowned in oil,” Ohno criticized the other with raised eyebrows and a pitying face, “and not delicious at all, who’s gonna eat something like that? If you cook something, it should at least look like you can eat it! Look!”

Ohno pulled out his own box filled with food and lifted the cover, showing off with some homemade Cha-han with fresh vegetables and some seafood. It indeed looked really delicious…

Sho blushed ashamed and felt a bit anger building up in his chest. Ohno was mean (again) and the world was just too unfair. He knew that he wasn’t a good cook, that wasn’t a secret, but at least he really had tried to provide something homemade, compared to Aiba who had just brought a six pack of beer or Nino who just had bought some onigiri at the convenience store two blocks away.

Before the young man could actually answer, Nino popped up between his two friends, eying them questioning. He took a look at their food and then turned around to face Sho.

“Ne, Sho-chan, what’s that?” the young man asked curiously bending over Sho’s creation before he looked back directly into Sho’s eyes. 

The older one wasn’t sure if he should feel bad because Nino couldn’t tell what he had cooked or just charmed by the other’s cute look.

“Potato salad,” he simply answered in a low voice.

“Potato salad?” Nino asked.

“Potato salad,” Sho repeated, nodding slightly.

“Ah, so this is the potato salad you were talking about?” Nino’s eyes got wide, “I never saw something like this!”

“That might be because it actually doesn’t look like potato salad at all,” Ohno chimed in and moved the box with his Cha-han closer to his friend, “Better try this one, Nino!”

But Nino had already pierced one of the huge potatoes onto two chopsticks and started eating. He has been looking forward to Sho’s potato salad or whatever it eventually was after all. Ohno wrinkled his nose and Sho looked at his roommate full of expectations.

“It’s good, Sho-chan!” Nino muffled while eating, “Maybe a bit oily… but it’s good,” the student smiled and finished the potato, dripping a bit of the sauce onto his shirt without noticing it.

“Really?” Sho asked, just to get another sweet smile of Nino.

“Ne Nino, what about my Cha-han? Won’t you try a bit too?” Ohno smiled his most friendly smile at Nino and Sho would have liked to wipe it out of the other man's face. Why had this guy always to disturb?

But Nino suddenly held his stomach and his face turned a bit pale, “Uhm, thanks, I guess I’m full from the potato… salad already. Maybe later on.”

He turned around and without saying another word joined Aiba on the picnic blanket who was chatting happily with Yui who proudly showed him some sketches from her latest art project. Nino refused taking the beer that Ryo offered him and preferred just to lie down to recover a bit from his sudden stomach ache.

Sho wasn’t sure how to react and carefully looked sideward as he felt Ohno’s death glare boring through his cheeks.

“Look what you did with your stupid potato salad! You poisoned him!” the older hissed at Sho and slapped his head forcefully. Sho looked at him devastated.

“What?! But I – Nino!” Sho quickly turned towards his roommate, turning blank and hurried towards the other man, “Are you alright? Are you feeling sick?”

“I’m alright, I’m alright, come here and calm down, Sho-chan,” Nino replied and Sho did as he was told, settling down cross-legged next to his roommate, who then put his head onto the other’s lap just to doze off after flashing him a last cute smile that made Sho’s heart beat faster.

“I’m sorry,” Sho murmured and after a few minutes he finally pulled together all of his courage and brushed a few strands of black tousled hair out of Nino’s face, slightly touching the soft skin in that progress.

He stopped immediately though, as soon as he noticed Ohno, who was sitting in front of him, examining the two with a strict look and crossed arms. What a pity, that they weren't alone right now.

TBC


	5. Keep cool!

Jun used to be pretty busy during his trips. Of course, it was fun but it was also work and as always, he took it serious and gave it his all to make the travel reports he was working on a success. He didn’t take much with him expect from his backpack stuffed with a few clothes to change, a small first-aid kit, his camera of course and a small laptop. He also often used to write down his experiences and thoughts into small note books to put them together to reports afterwards. 

There wasn’t internet connection everywhere but once Jun had one, he also used to check his e-mails with his laptop and was always happy to find a message of his friend and former roommate Sho in his inbox. It was funny somehow to read those mails. Usually, since Jun had been always busy and Sho more the quiet type, they didn’t talk that much when they were living together, even if they got along pretty well. Since Jun was on his world trip though, Sho had become really chatty which was amusing the other quite a lot.

Of course, on the one hand, it was good for Jun’s ego to read how seriously Sho missed his cooking skills and reading his lamenting about his own poor cooking was always funny. On the other hand, when Jun read that Sho - despite that he finally found a new roommate – still had to deal with unhealthy food and unskilled cooking (now in doubled performance since his roommate seemed to be pretty useless in this task too), he felt sorry for his friend. Jun even started sending his friend a few receipts for really simple meals, explaining them step by step and hoping that this would help a bit. To be honest, he seriously doubted it, though.

Anyways, Jun couldn’t prevent from reading between Sho’s lines that besides of the missing cooking skills, his new roommate “Nino” seemed to be quite a nice guy. Not to mention how Sho used to described him further, namely as “cute”, “handsome”, “cute”, “funny”, “a bit too chaotic but cute” oh and not to forget “cute”. Sho never told Jun directly and Jun never asked about it in his mails, holding back not to tease the other, but it was obvious that Sho was having a pretty severe crush on his new roommate. Well, Jun found that cute. He enjoyed reading Sho’s comments about that Nino guy and started wondering, what kind of person he might be that he had managed to take Sho’s heart by storm.

This morning, sitting on the balcony of his hotel room, while drinking a cup of coffee and taking it a bit slower than usual (Jun had managed to cover a large part of his current report already yesterday), he chuckled when he read about Sho’s report of a picnic he held together with Nino and Nino’s friends. 

In fact, Jun had been a bit worried about Sho being lonely since he was gone. Sho didn’t have that much friends, but it seemed like since Nino had moved in, the other had more social contact than ever before and Jun was sure that this was a positive turn of events. Nevertheless, Sho seemed to be a bit troubled by some of those new “friends”, especially by that “fish-painting weirdo” that Sho always mentioned with a slight hint of antipathy. Jun could just smirk, reading Sho’s green monster’s thoughts in between the lines but he found it too early to tell Sho that jealousy wasn’t attractive, since it still seemed harmless.

Leaning back after typing a short reply to his friend, calming him down from his rather cute small jealousy attack, Jun smiled to himself. Maybe, he should pay Sho a visit soon; he couldn’t wait to get to know Nino and the others who were turning his friend’s world upside down lately. Sounded fun!

~~~~~

“I’m not jealous!” Sho wanted to shout out loud as he read the e-mail of his best friend but then, he knew it would be a lie.

Sho wasn’t stupid. With that, it was a given that he was quite aware of the fact, that Ohno was interested in Nino too and that those two were pretty close friends. Ohno followed the other around almost everywhere, he bought him juice, presented Nino a (well, not in Sho’s opinion but in other’s opinion) beautiful painting for the living room (the one with the flying fishes that Sho found just creepy), he cooked for him, helped him with his storyboards for short movies and whatnot. Sho had learned quickly, that Ohno wasn’t all that gorgeous and self-sacrificing just for fun but that he was doing all of this to impress Nino and to win over his affection. Well, Sho wasn’t any better; he had developed the habit to spoil his roommate a bit too...

Nevertheless, Sho also was aware of the fact that Nino was too oblivious to get those hints at all, even if Ohno was much more straightforward than Sho. No matter what affectionate gesture he or Ohno showed in front of him, Nino – in his naive way – just accepted all those gestures as those of “good friends” who liked helping him, with a smile. With that, so far, the two rival’s efforts had run into nothing but thin air.

Honestly, Sho wondered how someone could actually be _that_ blind about other people’s affection but on the other hand; this was one of those things that made Nino so damned adorable and cute in his eyes. Nino was passionate about his work and had great eyes for details when it came to his stories and the like but then, he seemed to be completely clueless and inexperienced when it came to love. This was the first time that Sho had fallen for someone so innocent and it was indeed a new experience.

Nino’s obvious lack of love experience (and seeing how Ohno failed again and again), made Sho holding back his own feelings most of the time to not embarrass himself too much. It wasn’t easy to control himself sometimes but he didn’t want to force anything onto the young man who had opened up to him on a friends basis. He didn’t want to risk their friendship and he didn’t want to scare him away. So Sho had decided to observe the situation and to wait for his chance to get closer to Nino when time had come. 

Nevertheless – as mentioned -, sometimes it was pretty hard to suppress his feelings and desire. After all, Sho was a young vital man with a healthy libido. And even if Nino was clueless and not initiating onto anything sexually related, this didn’t mean that Sho didn’t think about such stuff, that he didn’t imagine how things could be if Nino was a little bit more… dirty. 

When Sho had his first well… not-so-innocent dream about Nino not so long ago, he woke up with a red flushed face and an obvious bulge in his shorts. 

After taking a quick (cold) shower, he put on his sportswear and decided to go for a run. A long, exhausting run that would distract him from thinking about what he had dreamed of. Poor Nino, getting victim of his perverted dreams, Sho thought and tried to quickly get rid of those particular images, even if it wasn’t easy to do so.

Especially not, when the first thing he saw as he came back and opened the door to the apartment, was Nino – half naked, getting out of the bathroom, rubbing his wet hair with a towel while drinking from a small water bottle. Of course, he was a bit careless like so often and some of the liquid got spilled, traced down his lips, his chin with that super cute mole on it, his perfect throat with that perfect Adam's apple that jumped as he drank and down his chest with those tiny cute nipples, down his slim belly until it reached the seam of his towel and got soaked off.

“Oh crap,” Sho and Nino said in unison – one because of his carelessness and now completely wet face and the other because the thoughts about his dirty dream came back on an instant, although he had finally managed to transform them into something more innocent. Well, for nothing as it seemed. 

“Ah, Sho-chan, welcome back!” Nino said friendly as he spotted the other, trying to dry his body with the small edge of his towel, revealing even more skin than before.

Sho didn’t answer but slammed the door close and rushed downstairs again. 

Nino just looked astonished at the door, wondering if Sho had forgotten something. He shrugged his shoulders, finally pulled of his towel from his waist, not caring that now he was completely naked and wiped off the liquid from his face and chest.

Sho, by the way, was running another three rounds through the park near the apartment complex at full speed, before he could come back again.

**To be continued…**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry... for some reason I just forgot to post this chapter here o.O Hope you like it! ^^


	6. Episode 06: Private Cooking Lessons

Originally, Sho's plans for the upcoming summer break this year had been to go back home to visit his family that he hadn't seen in a while now. That was, until today. The student was actually accompanying Nino and his friends for an outing (which was still pretty seldom for his standards) and they had ended up at Karaoke, drinking their second round of beer while chatting cheerfully and singing along with their friends. 

It was more or less the same group, Sho had already gotten used to but there were also a few new faces. Besides Nino's inner circle of friends, Aiba had brought along a new girl – Asami, as he introduced her – who he seemed to have met during an internship at a primary school and obviously wanted to hit on.

Sho of course was too shy to perform a song so he had refused to do so until now, even if that meant that Nino had asked Ohno to sing a duet together with him instead. Slightly sulking, Sho sipped his beer while the two young men sang their lungs out. He had to admit, that both of them sounded pretty well... 

Nino handed the microphone to Yui next, before he returned to his seat next to Sho, flashing his roommate a big smile. Nino was already a bit tipsy from the alcohol and due to that maybe even a bit more clingy than usual, immediately linking his arm with Sho's.

“How was it, Sho-chan?” he asked while Ohno settled next to him, and Yui provided a round of hurting ears. “Oh-chan and I did a good job, right?”

Ohno glanced at Sho with a triumphant smirk dancing on his lips, obviously proud of the compliment by Nino. Sho gave him an annoyed look and concentrated onto Nino again, trying to ignore his rival.

“I didn't know you're such a good singer, I'm impressed,” Sho complimented the younger sincerely and blushed slightly at Nino's happy smile. 

“Thanks, I'm happy then. Please join my next duet, will you?” 

“Ah, no, no! I _can't_ sing, really!” Sho said defensive. 

“Oh come on, Sakurai-kun, I'm sure you'll give us a wonderful performance,” Ohno chimed in, giving Sho one of his fake smiles and lifting his beer to clink glasses with him. Surely, the other wanted him to disgrace himself but Sho wasn't willing to give in to that guy's mean challenge.

“Thank you for your encouragement, Ohno-kun, but no,” he refused, clinking his glass against the other's.

“You sure?” Nino asked with puppy eyes that Sho tried to ignore the best as he could. 

“I'm... sure...,” the older squinted. 

“I really want to sing with you together, Sho-chan! I don't mind if you can't sing and listen to Yui-chan, she doesn't mind either that... she can't sing,” Nino tried his best to convince Sho, putting his hand onto his arms to shake him slightly. “You can pick the song, alright?”

“Go for it, _Sho-chan_!” Ohno cheered too, sarcastically, and Sho suppressed the urge to reach over Nino and hit the other man.

After Yui and Aiba covered a popular song from some female idol groups and Ryo challenged – and succeeded! - in singing the rock song “Fire Beat” by a group with a strange acronym as their name that Sho couldn't pronounce correctly or even remember, Nino finally had convinced Sho to join the stage with him. 

Sho wasn't confident enough to pick a song by himself, so Nino just suggested three to him and Sho chose the one he knew, a popular Enka song that his grandpa used to love. Linking his arm with Sho, Nino enthusiastically started singing, trying to encourage Sho to do the same. It took him until the second verse until he finally joined and when Nino's eyes widened happily when he heard the other's voice, his heart skipped a beat. Sho then blushed badly when Nino dropped his head onto his shoulder, swaying with the rhythm while the others clapped their hands to the easy-going beat until they finished the song, Nino smiling at him satisfied.

Up next was Ohno with a wonderful pop ballad that fit perfectly to his voice, most likely, to impress Nino but Sho just could smirk when he realized, that Nino was too drunk and too focused onto him, to notice the other's efforts. Instead of listening to his friend with the microphone, Nino dropped back onto the couch together with Sho, sneaking his arms around the taller's waist and cuddling close, forcing Sho to settle his arm around Nino's shoulder.

“I like Sho-chan's voice, you're not bad at all, liar!” Nino chuckled.

“Really?” Sho asked, still not confident about his performance at all but Nino just nodded and cuddled his head against his chest before he finally let his eyes wander towards Ohno who was singing passionately into their direction, making Sho feeling even more embarrassed about Nino's closeness than he would feel anyway.

“Say, Sho-chan, are you driving home too for summer?” Nino then asked, trying to focus his look onto Sho again, which seemed a bit difficult for him due to the amount of alcohol he had drunken. 

“Uhm... yes, I wanted to visit my parents. My sister is coming back home too for the holidays, I didn't see them in ages.” 

“Ah, I see...,” Nino's curious look abruptly turned into a slightly disappointed look and Sho wondered, if he said something wrong. “Sounds nice, going back to family and stuff. Aiba-chan and Oh-chan and the others will do that too...” 

It was impossible for Sho to miss the slightly sad tone in Nino's voice and so he faced the other properly with concern in his eyes, “What's with that gloomy mood suddenly, Nino? What about you, will you stay here? No family visit planned?” 

Nino bit his lover lip, averting Sho's eyes. “My mother has to work during the holidays. Like always. She doesn't have time for me at all, so I'll just stay here on my own, I guess...” He then turned to Sho, an attempted smile adorning his lips. “Though it will be pretty lonely, if even Sho-chan is leaving...” 

That sentence had been enough for Sho to make his heart cringe on the thought that Nino would be sulking lonely in their apartment, and so he quickly made up his mind. 

The next day, he called his mother. He told her that he couldn't come back home for the holidays this time and just would pay them a visit for a weekend at the end of summer break instead. He didn't tell her the reason why, but maybe, she suspected something already, because she didn't even ask for his reason and just accepted his cancellation. 

The next week on Friday evening, when Nino came back from a last meeting with some people for a new movie project before all of them left into holidays, he was surprised to find Sho in their apartment. He thought that the other had already left in the afternoon to travel home. Instead, Sho had ordered some Pizza (and ice cream as a desert) and showed Nino one of his DVDs, asking the other if he would join his “dinner”. He hadn’t told his roommate about the change of plans but seeing the other’s happy smile had been worth the secrecy. Nino happily jumped onto his usual space on the couch, right next to Sho and the two men enjoyed their meal while watching “James Bond – Goldfinger” together, discussing enthusiastically about the disadvantages and advantages of the old and new James Bond movies. 

~~~~~ 

Sho was definitely caught in surprise when on the next day during lunch time (which looked like eating the rest of yesterday's pizza) his mother showed up in front of his apartment, wearing a wide smile, a simple but beautiful kimono and a stock of bentos. Sho couldn't hide that he wasn't only happy to see his mother, but also the food, since... well... Mom's food was always the best, right? 

When Sho let her inside, Nino poked his head out of the kitchen curiously, looking a bit confused at the new face. 

“Nino, come here, may I introduce, this are my mother,” Sho introduced the woman to him who smiled at the younger friendlily. “Mom, my roommate Nino.” 

“Hello!” Nino said and bowed a little, smiling at the women. 

“Oh, so this is the famous Nino?” Sho's mother chuckled, lifting her hand to hide her amused smile.

“Nice to meet you! My son told me so much about you!”

“Mom!” Sho cut in, embarrassed. It was true, that he might have mentioned Nino once or twice on the phone when he had talked to his mother... OK, he had mentioned him each and every time but that didn't mean that Nino needed to know that!

“So you aren't visiting your parents either this holiday?” the woman continued in a slightly mocking undertone, addressed to her son. 

The woman just grinned and bent a little closer to her son, whispering into his ear. “I bet, _he_ is the reason why you dumped us, isn't he?” 

Sho blushed and clumsily tried to change the topic. “Thanks for the food, it looks delicious like always, Mom.” 

“Well, I thought, it's better than eating... pizza every day,” she looked suspiciously at the last piece of pizza arranged onto a plate placed on the kitchen table. “And it seems, it’s _really_ high time. Say, Nino-kun, are you two always eating something like that?” 

“Usually we order Chinese, pizza was an exception,” Nino answered explaining, as if this would improve the situation, earning a critical look by Sho's mother. When he said “It's quite good!” enthusiastically, Sho feared for a moment that his roommate would offer her the last (cold) slice of pizza, which he thankfully didn't do... 

Immediately and uninvitedly, Sho's mother started searching through the students' kitchen for actually edible food, ignoring the not yet done dishes in the sink and the empty plastic bottles standing everywhere. She found some cereals, several packages of cheap rice and some packages of instant ramen with different flavors in the cupboard while an opened package of crackers and the empty pizza cartons decorated the counter.

In the fridge instead there was just a yawning void, broken with a couple of eggs, one single bell pepper that Sho had bought in a moment of bad conscious regarding his and Nino’s unhealthy diet and one liter of milk (most likely for the cereals) next to a six pack of canned beer (also known as the unhealthy diet). And something dark and clunky that she wasn't able – and not even willing – to identify, sitting in the right back corner.

“What is _that_ ,” Sho's mother asked disgustedly and pulled it out, holding just the edge of a plastic bag with the tips of her fingers and eying the content suspiciously as if she was afraid it could start moving any second.

“Ah, I wanted to throw this away!” Sho said quickly, grabbing the small bag and throwing it into the trash can. 

“Three weeks ago, I suppose,” his mother added, rolling her eyes.

“As expected, cooking isn't your forte, right?” the woman asked, poking her son “But don't worry, I'm here to save you!”

Said, done. Soon after, Nino and Sho found themselves on a huge market just a few streets away, they never had heard of, their arms filled with various fresh vegetables and meat. Sho's eyes almost popped out of his head as he saw the recipe but his mother just patted his shoulder, smiling.

“For today, I’ll treat you guys, so don’t worry!”

“Thank you so much, Sakurai-san!” Nino said enthusiastically and turned around to Sho with a happy face. 

Half an hour later, Sho’s mother showed them how to fry beef and onions and how to cut the carrots and potatoes for simple but delicious Japanese Curry. Nino put the rice into the rice cooker, obviously proud that he at least knew how to use that thing, before he joined in the vegetable slicing. Sho's mother praised him, apparently, Nino didn't seem as untalented in cooking as Sho.

“I didn't know you're so skilled,” Sho told the other admiring.

“I didn't know either!” Nino answered, his eyes shining from serious surprise. “And it's really fun! I guess since I never really tried so far I just didn't notice.”

“You should cook more often then,” Sho's mother suggested with a smile.

“Ne, Sho-chan, you have to tell me your favorite dishes and then, I'll cook for you every day!” the young man shot a disarming smile at his roommate.

“Nino-kun, I'm convinced, you will be a perfect house husband one day,” Sho's mother said chuckling and send her son a smirking look.

The latter though was just too busy with fighting a sudden, serious heart condition, and he didn't only ignore his mother completely but also didn't pay enough attention so that he ended up cutting his finger instead of the garlic. 

Shocked, Sho let out a (not so manly) squeal and his face immediately went pale as he saw some big deep red drops forming on the tip of his finger. Then he just wanted to face-palm and hide from the embarrassing situation. He was such an idiot and why the hell had Nino to be so damned cute all the time anyway? Nobody would be able to concentrate in his presence!

“Sho! Seriously, I thought you at least know how to hold a knife properly!” his mother scolded him and looked through the kitchen, searching for something. “Were do you have the the first aid kit? You _do_ have a first aid kit, don't you?”

“In the bathroom behind the mirror,” Nino said and Sho's mother quickly dashed outside, just to turn around a second later with a questioning face. “It's the middle room at the end of the living room!”

Nino reached out to grab Sho's hand and wrapped a small, wet towel around his finger to clean the wound carefully. 

“Don't worry, Sho-chan, you won't die from this.

Sho was still too worrying about his heart instead of dying from blood loss as Nino continued being the cutest person he ever met. He still didn't let go of his hand and Sho died to just wrap his arms around the smaller and pull him into a hug. 

“Here, disinfectant and a plaster, Sho,” his mother finally showed up in the kitchen again, but stopped in her action as she saw the foolish lovesick look on her son's face. She smirked. 

It had never been a secret to her, that her son wasn't the typical boy who would find a decent job, a young woman and marry her to build a family. Sho had always been special and so, it hadn't been a surprise for the family when Sho one day exclaimed that he wasn't interested in women. His mother had been a bit troubled though since he never told anything about a boyfriend and she had been worried that her son would end up alone but when Sho had started to talk about his new roommate, her heart had felt touched, knowing that her son was ready to let someone step into his life. The only problem now was, that Nino didn't seem to know yet, that _he_ was supposed to be this someone and knowing her shy son, Sho's mother thought, that he could maybe need a little push into the right direction.

After handing her son a plaster, she took away his knife, forbidding him to use it again and instructed Nino instead to finish cutting the vegetables. 

“I guess, my son is just helpless, but you aren't that bad, Nino,” Sho's mother praised the boy and patted his shoulder, “Please take good care of my son, will you?” 

“Of course, I will,” Nino nodded his head enthusiastically while Sho gaped at the other. Surely, Nino hadn't noticed, how close to a proposal this all had sounded just right now.

His mother leaned closer to his ear, whispering, “If he isn't your boyfriend yet, you should hurry or someone else will snatch away that cutie from you!” 

Sho blushed and his mother winked at him encouragingly.

After dining and – to Sho's further embarrassment – talking for hours about Sho's childhood and what else his mother came up with to amuse Nino, it was too late for the woman to catch her last train and so, it was just logical that she would stay over at the students' place. Sho of course offered his bed to his mother, taking the couch in the living room as his bivouac. He did some last cleaning in the kitchen (since he didn't really cook, he could at least help in this way, he thought) and then settled on the couch, already dressed in his boxer shorts and T-shirt. Since he wasn't tired yet, he switched on the television, lowering the volume to not disturb his mother. Soon after, Nino's bedroom door opened and when Sho turned around, Nino was standing there in his night clothes, hugging his pillow.

“Sho-chan? You're still awake?” he asked in a low voice.

“More or less,” the other chuckled despite the unnecessary question, “And you?”

“I can't sleep...,” the younger said. “What are you watching?”

There were commercials running at the moment on the channel Sho had chosen. “Batman – The Dark Knight Rises,” he answered and Nino, who had already settled next to him on the couch, crossing his legs and still hugging his pillow just hummed acknowledging.

“You mind if I join?” he then smiled at the other.

“I won't kick you from the couch now that you're already here,” Sho chuckled and secretly, he was happy that Nino seemed willing to keep him company. He definitely wouldn't complain about this.

“How's your finger?” the younger asked then, eying Sho's battlefield injury covered in brown plaster.

The other grinned and lifted his finger, moving it demonstratively. “Don't worry, I won't die from it, at least you promised so.”

Nino smiled and when the commercial break was over, he focused his eyes onto the screen, following the story and soon, he had leaned his head against Sho's shoulder like he did so often lately. Despite he exclaimed that this movie was one of his favorites, the young man fell asleep after about a hour, the movie only half finished.

“Are you kidding me?” Sho whispered, “So much to you can't sleep...”

However, he couldn't bring himself to wake up the other again who leaned against him so peacefully. Instead, he allowed himself to reach out his hand and brush his fingers in a ghost-like manner over the younger's cheeks, increasing his heartbeat again. Sooner or later, this boy would drive him crazy, Sho was sure about it. He forced himself to concentrate onto the movie again, eventually getting tired and his eyes fell shut just when the ending credits of the movie started rolling, still sitting in the very same posture.

The next day, Sho woke up to an awfully stiff neck and back as well as his mother's cheekily grin. Slightly confused, he looked around, recognizing his living room. When something shifted on his lap, he looked down and spotted Nino, cuddled up against him on the couch, his head bedded on Sho's thighs and an arm settled around Sho's belly. The older blushed again (he already had lost count on how often he had blushed foolishly within the last 24 hours) and carefully tried to slip out under Nino's half hug to stand up and offer his mother a cup of coffee in the kitchen.

A pretty dozy Nino joined them about twenty minutes later, his shirt sloping around his neck and with this natural disheveled bed hair style that Sho found so damned cute on the other. He offered him some coffee too and shortly after, the two roommates accompanied Sho's mother to the train station.

“Good luck, you two! Sho, keep me updated!” the woman stepped onto the train waving a last time to the others.

Nino enthusiastically answered her gesture while Sho tried to hide another blush.

TBC...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> PS: Sorry for the long wait and thanks for being patient! This fic is still in progress but since it's a side project, it takes time. I hope for your understanding.
> 
> PPS: Please also check out my collaboration fanfiction with Wendyjoly [My so-called Love Life](http://archiveofourown.org/works/3649137/chapters/8062389)! :D


	7. Surrender to the Innocence

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> @ Chapter 7: I'm sorry, I totally forgot to update this story here .___." Hope you enjoy it!

"Oh-chan~!" 

Ohno, who was busy with cleaning his fishing rod for a last time before it would finally get put into action again that day, turned around. The happy smile adorning his face as he looked into the direction of which the voice of his crush Nino came from, didn't last long though, as he had to realize that Nino wasn't only waving at him with his baseball cap enthusiastically, but also that he was not alone.

"Come on, Sho-chan, hurry, Oh-chan is already waiting for us, you see?" Nino said, pulling his companion at his elbow to make him speed up.

"You must be kidding me…," Ohno murmured, readjusting his hat and putting away his rod to welcome Nino and the guy he was dragging along – his love rival and Nino's roommate, Sakurai Sho. He sighed before he lifted his hand to great his buddy nevertheless. "Hey, Nino!"

Nino came running the last few steps before he stopped in front of his friend, flashing him a radiating smile. "I'm sorry, Oh-chan, are we too late? We missed one bus because Sho-chan couldn't find the sun lotion."

"No need to blame that on me, you don't even _have_ sun lotion, it's important so be thankful that I searched for it and even let you use mine in the end," Sho pouted slightly.

"Of course, thank you, Sho-chan, for giving me some of your sun lotion and helping me to apply it onto my neck," Nino replied sincerely, turning his flashing smile at the other who had finally caught up to them. 

Sho blushed and poked the other into the side. "Can you just… be quiet, please?"

Ohno's nose twitched slightly, no, he didn't really want to imagine this scene of how that idiot was touching the skin of his beloved Nino… He cleared his throat, pulling the young man a bit away from Sho to whisper to him. "Nino, what is _he_ doing here?" he rolled his eyes into Sho's direction.

"Eh?" Nino gaped at him, wondering. "We're going for a fishing trip, right? I thought, Sho-chan must be interested too and apparently he is, so I brought him along."

"But I didn't really _invite_ him, did I?"

"You didn't but since we're all friends, I thought, it was OK," Nino explained, smiling innocently.

"We're all friends? Sure," Ohno said but he was sure that Nino didn't get the sarcastic undertone. 

As cute as the other could be, his unthoughtfulness could really be a pain in the neck sometimes. The art student sighed and looked at Sho who was biting his lips nervously. Surely, the other had known pretty well that he wasn't invited but had come along nevertheless to prevent Nino from being alone with Ohno. Damned.

"I'm sorry for not asking you in advance," Nino apologized with a small bow. At least he seemed to realize that he did something wrong, even if he didn't have bad intentions. Of course not, he was Nino after all, he never had bad intentions and he would never harm a fly – at least not on purpose.

"Argh, Nino, no, don't do that. It's OK, don't worry," Ohno said then, patting his friend's shoulder to prevent him from bowing. 

Of course, the older couldn't be mad at his crush. Instead, he glared at Sho as if he was warning the other. Then he hooked Nino's arm and pulled him with him to the landing stage and they got onto the boat that was already waiting for them, Sho following.

Well, so much to his planned _date_ with Nino, Ohno thought. Too bad that it didn't work out. However, what was still left for the young artist was to show off in front of Nino with his fishing skills. Besides painting – and trying to make Nino aware of him – this was his other great passion after all and he was pretty proud that he had been quite a good student of his father, who had even won prizes for fishing the biggest and most impressive fishes in several events. Ohno was confident, that he was able to fish something impressive too today and that Nino would have no other choice than finding him _cool_ and appreciating his skills, especially, since Ohno planned to prepare a meal for them from his prey at the end of the day. 

Quickly, the three young man had gotten comfy on the boat which was guided by an acquaintance of Ohno and went out onto the open sea. Not too far from the land, the boat stopped, swaying in the sea and Ohno could finally eject his fishing rod to get started, which he did quite enthusiastically. To his surprise, Sho seemed quite curious about fishing – Ohno had thought that Sho's only motive to come along was to keep an eye onto his roommate. While Nino seemed more the type who enjoyed standing at the railing and watching out to the sea's horizon, Sho actually had started to walk around Ohno, coming closer, curious to look what exactly the other was doing with his fishing rod. He even asked the experienced man a few simple questions here and there, which the other couldn't help but answer properly despite he didn't really want to talk to the other. This was his fisher's pride after all. When he was about to explain something about different types of fishing lures to his curious audience, Ohno thought, that it maybe would interest Nino too and so he turned his head, searching for the other, spotting him at the railing on the other side of the boat, seemingly watching down into the water.

"Kazu-chan~!" Ohno called invitingly, a wide smile adorning his face.

Sho, standing right next to him gaped at the other. "Eh?! How did you call him right now?"

"I called him _Kazu-chan_ ," the older answered proudly. "His first name is _Kazunari_ after all, you know?"

"Of course I know that, what a stupid question!" Sho muffled, pouting.

"So why don't you call him like that too?" the other challenged him.

Sho tried to hide an obvious blush, keeping his voice low to not attract Nino's attention. "What?! I can't, it's… too intimate."

"Oh, is it? Well, for us it's perfectly fine, that I call you like that, right, Kazu-chan?" Ohno called out again to the other side of the boat.

"Oh-chan can call me how he likes, of course," Nino called back.

"That's my Kazu-chan."

"Stop flirting with him in front of other people, how embarrassing!" Sho said, darting an upset look at Ohno.

"It's not embarrassing at all. You're just jealous because you don't have the guts to do it yourself."

"Oh come on, I _do_ have guts!" Sho straightened his back. 

"Really?" the older student smirked at him, challenging. "So go on and call him _Kazu-chan_ , show me you've got the courage!"

"Don't provoke me or..."

"Or what?"

Sho reached out to slap Ohno's arm slightly. "Don't… don't underestimate me!"

"Call him."

"Alright, I'll do it," Sho pouted again, looking into Nino's direction but then, there was just silence for a few minutes before Sho turned his head again, highly embarrassed.

"Now," Ohno nudged him, teasingly.

"Alright! I'll do it!"

Second try. Silence again.

"I'm waiting."

Sho pulled in some air, looking into Nino's direction again. To say he wasn't nervous, would be a big lie. He just couldn't bring himself to do it. On the other hand though, he didn't want to lose to Ohno either, at least not without even trying and so he pulled himself together. "Ka-…. Ka-…. Can you come over here for a moment… Nino…?"

"Hm," Ohno smirked critically, assured of his little victory, before earning a poke by Sho.

"Don't say a word, I warn you!"

"I'm satisfied with _thinking_ about your failure, thank you very much, Sakurai-kun," Ohno grinned satisfied and turned to his other side. 

Nino had shown up, giving his friends a vague smile. Sho frowned, as the younger student clenched the railing next to him, darting his look immediately back down to the water, frowning seriously. He seemed to shiver slightly. Did Sho just imagine or did the other look a bit sick? He went a few steps closer to the other, going around Ohno, and put his hand onto the younger man's shoulder. 

"Nino… hey, is everything OK? You look pale."

"I'm sorry guys, I think, I'm getting sick or something…," the younger murmured.

"Sick? Do you have a fever?" Sho asked worried, reaching out his hand to touch Nino's forehead.

"Ah no, I don't think so," the young man answered, not even able to shake his head. "Just… oh-"

And then it happened. Nino's face had suddenly turned from pale to a slight tone of green and if he had only looked down over the railing so far, now he was bending over it, emptying his stomach. Sho blanked, worry overwhelming him. Nino was feeling _that_ bad? 

"Nino!" Ohno exclaimed, leaning to the younger, reaching his hand to his back.

"What's going on?" Sho asked worried. Why didn't he notice yet that the other wasn't feeling well? They should have stayed home then.

"Can't you see it, you idiot?" Ohno looked at him, clicking his tongue. "He's obviously seasick!"

"Seasick? And you invite him for a _fishing trip_?" the other talked back.

"I didn't know it!" Ohno shot Sho a death glare. "Nino, why didn't you tell me? I wouldn't have brought you along if I had known you're seasick! I'm so sorry!"

"How long do you know each other?" Sho criticized the other, putting his own hand onto Nino's back to, starting to rub it slightly as the other threw up once more. "And you didn't know that he's seasick?"

Nino had recovered a bit, searching his pocket for a tissue that he pressed onto his mouth as he straightened up a little. "Stop fighting, guys, I didn't know it myself, I never really had the chance to ride a boat, no one could know… I'm sorry for ruining your trip."

"I'm sorry for bringing you along, really…," Ohno said, pitying the other.

Sho sighed. "Can you two stop being sorry, please? We have to help him. So what can we do against his seasickness?"

"If he doesn't have any medication against it, it's hard to get hold of it… most likely he just has to endure it until we got back to land, not watch the sea, lie down, drink some fresh water," Ohno tried to recall some measurements for this case. So far, he himself had never needed them.

"So let's go back immediately, then!" Sho suggested.

But Nino countered him. "What? No, no! I don't want to ruin your trip, I want Oh-chan to enjoy his fishing and he should teach you, Sho, since you were so interested in it."

"You're really that interested in fishing?" Ohno asked the other man.

"Uhm… sure, why not?" Sho answered cockily. "However, I don't want to spend more time on the sea knowing that you're sick, Nino, really."

"I insist on you at least fishing one fish, OK, Oh-chan?" Nino said, holding up one finger. "This trip would be a huge failure if you didn't catch anything, right? I can endure it for some time, I can bear with this, I'll just lay down and… oh…," he bent over the railing once more.

"Nino!"

"Ugh… I'm sorry, Sho-chan, I didn't want you to see _that_ … again. This is so disgusting," Nino tried to smile it off, failing.

"I don't mind, Nino, really," Sho answered, rubbing his friend's back again, hoping that it would help a little. More than being disgusted, he felt just sorry for the other and wished he could do something to help him. "Come, you should lie down."

He guided the younger back to the middle of the boat were a bench was located. Nino groaned, moving slowly to avoid his stomach from turning over again. While Ohno was watching them, Sho helped Nino sitting down, putting his feet up and getting into a horizontal position.

"May I… put my head onto your lap?" the boy then asked Sho. "The bench is pretty hard."

"Of course, come here!" the older said, hurriedly sitting down next to the other, helping him to bed his head on Sho's lap. The latter blushed slightly.

"Oh-chan, go fishing your fish, I want to try your self-fished, self-grilled fish that you promised me, after all… but… hurry, if possible," Nino said then, as he spotted Ohno looking worried at him.

"Seriously, you're so troublesome, Nino," the other flashed him a pitying smile but nodded then.

"Don't complain, do it! I won't complain anymore either…," Nino said, looking at his friend seriously. He frowned then, his forehead slightly sweaty and held his stomach as he closed his eyes.

"Try to relax," Sho said, shyly letting his own hand slide underneath Nino's hand to put a light pressure onto his stomach that might make him feel a bit better.

"I'll hurry. Here Sho, take this," Ohno then finally agreed, handing Sho a small washcloth drenched in cold water that he had organized for Nino.

"Thanks," Sho took it and put it onto Nino's forehead, watching the young man's pale, painful face.

Fortunately, the fishing god seemed to be on Ohno's side this day and so it took the other just a few minutes until he finally had a pretty big fish – at least big enough for their meal - on the hook and the fishing trip could be finished sooner than expected. While Ohno was busy with cleaning the fish and put it into an ice box – he doubted that Nino would feel like eating at the moment and so he planned to postpone eating it until later for dinner – Sho was still taking care of the latter. Even when the group of friends finally had reached land again, Sho was supporting Nino leaving the swaying boat, while Ohno was busy to carry their stuff. 

“Why do _I_ have to carry all our stuff and _you_ can help Nino, by the way?” Ohno complained, fully packed with not only his own fishing stuff but also the bags of his friends.

“Stop complaining, Ohno-kun, you'll annoy Nino,” Sho said, turning his back over his shoulder.

“What?!” the other protested. “If someone is annoying here, it's _you_ , Sakurai-kun! Just that you know, you weren't even invited to this trip!”

“I know that very well, thank you very much for your hospitality.”

“Same applies for your consideration of letting people alone on their _date_ ,” Ohno shot back.

“It's only a _date_ if both people _know_ that it's a date, you know?” Sho shot right into Ohno's weak spot.

“Look, who's talking, Mr. I-know-soooo-much-about-love, sure. Stop kidding me.”

Sho was about to protest and already had parted his lips, as Nino, still hanging on his shoulder like a sandbag, groaned, “Guys... please....” 

“Sorry Nino, we're too loud, aren't we?”

“Too loud...”

Sho brought Nino back down on earth quickly, the young man's feet still shaking and he was walking unstable but he was happy to finally have back not-moving ground underneath his shoes. Still clinging to Sho, the three guys made it slowly down the road, back to the bus station and when they came across a pharmacy on their way thereto, Sho quickly sat Nino down onto a bench and rushed into it to get some medicine for his friend's bad stomach. 

Ohno still felt guilty for bringing Nino to this miserable trip and he swore to himself that for the next – attempted – date, he would bring Nino along to something definitely harmless.

~~~~~

It was just too bad that the next time, Nino _again_ didn't get the hint that Ohno actually wanted to be _alone_ with him, when he had invited the other to the cinema just a few days later. No, Nino hadn't gotten the hint at all and so it was not much to Ohno's surprise – but still to his displeasure – that the younger brought along his roommate Sho _again_. And of course, other than the oblivious Nino, Sho knew exactly that he wasn't invited but _again_ had come along nevertheless. With that, the two men now were standing in front of their friend Ohno, the one flashing him his usual cheerful smile, the other darting a victorious smirk at him. 

Ohno sighed deeply and as a small revenge for Sho's tactlessness, he immediately sent the other off to buy some drinks and popcorn. The other wanted to refuse first, arguing that everyone should go get their own stuff but as soon as Nino gave him his puppy eyes, ordering salty popcorn and a coke, Sho was lost and went off without further complaining. So finally, even if just for a few minutes, Ohno could be alone with Nino. 

He had decided, to tell the other something, something that he might should have told him earlier already, maybe. Ohno still felt guilty for bringing Nino to this miserable fishing trip the other day and he even felt worse about not knowing about Nino's weakness and despite he liked him so much, Ohno had to admit, it wasn't the only thing he didn't know about his crush. 

Ohno had developed this liking onto Nino ever since he and Aiba had moved into the same apartment complex as Ohno at the beginning of his studies and stayed there until it got demolished a few weeks ago and they had to move out.

They quickly had developed a nice friendship but nevertheless, the older had to admit that he didn't know too much about Nino's background, or about things that might bother him. It wasn't that Ohno hadn't tried to find out a bit more about Nino but usually, the other would act like in his cheerful manner and not talk about serious stuff at all.

Ohno loved the cheerful side of Nino. He appreciated his almost childish innocence and naivety, it was cute and it often made him feel light and face serious things with less troubles. Nino's smile was the most charming he had ever seen and it had won over Ohno's heart immediately. 

Especially, when Sho had shown up in Nino's life (or let's say the other way round) and Ohno suddenly had to face a serious rival about Nino's potential love, he had developed quite some fighting spirit but maybe it was time to put the cards onto the table. He had to push his true intentions onto Nino and to see how he would react since he doubted that Nino would even notice his (or Sho's) efforts otherwise. 

Now that Sho was gone for a few minutes, Ohno seized the chance to try and see what he would get. With his heart beating fast against his ribcage, the older reached out his hand to grab Nino's, facing him properly, as Nino looked at him, a bit surprised.

„Nino, listen, I have to tell you something," the arts student said with a serious voice. 

“Hm?” Nino wondered.

Ohno took a deep breath. It was now or never, the thought and he didn't care at all that people could hear them in the crowded waiting hall in the cinema, he just had to let it go, now. "I like you.“

To Ohno's surprise, he didn't really get the surprised reaction he might have expected, instead, the younger just answered the pressure of his friend's hand, looking at him with a smile. „I like you too, Oh-chan.“

How much he had wished to hear those words out of Nino's mouth, Ohno thought, but he knew that Nino had something different in mind than he had. “No," he shook his head. "What I mean is, I _really_ like you.”

“Well, I _really_ like you too,” the confusion in Nino's eyes didn't clear up. It was clear that like this, it would lead to nothing.

“No, you don’t understand. I _love_ you.”

“Love?” the other repeated, questioning.

“Yeah… you know… like your mother and father love each other and such…,” Ohno added, just in case this explanation was needed.

Nino averted his eyes, hanging his head. “I don’t have a father.”

“Oh…,” Ohno froze. _That_ explained a lot. He thought hard for a moment. “Do you have siblings?”

“An older sister, she’s studying abroad.”

“Does she have a boyfriend?”

Nino tilted his head. “Hm… I don’t know?”

This was becoming more difficult than Ohno had thought. “Uhm… do you watch romantic movies from time to time?” he grabbed a last straw.

“Not really… I'm more into adventure, psycho thriller and action and such.”

Ohno sighs. Of course even in those movies there was supposed to be a hint of love shown once in a while but this was not what he needed for explaining. So he tried to get around in another way. “Let me ask you something else. Is there someone you like?”

“There are lots of people, I like, Oh-chan," Nino chuckled. "I like my friends, my mom… what’s with that question?”

The older wondered if someone at this age could really be that clueless and innocent but well, if it was Nino, he guess, he could be. “What I mean is, is there someone that you like maybe _more_ than all the others?”

Nino lowered his look more, obviously thinking but didn’t answer.

“Judging from your reaction, I’m pretty sure that this person isn’t me, right? That's OK…," Ohno gulped. It wasn't exactly _OK_ but it couldn't be helped, right? "But… if there is someone like that for you, you should start thinking about it.” 

Nino looked at him with a slightly troubled look. "Someone I like more than the others?"

Ohno nodded and then, he took a deep breath. It took him a bit to find the right words, and he didn't want to push too many things onto Nino at once but what he said then, were his sincere feelings. “I really like you, Nino. I want you to be happy and to smile forever. No matter how this happiness looks like in your case and no matter which part I can play in it.”

Nino still didn’t say anything but just looked at his friend, his look a mixture of confusion and maybe a hint of guilt, even if he wasn't completely sure for what he should feel guilty. When he finally slightly parted his lips to say something, Sho showed up around the corner again, his arms fully packed with popcorn, chips and several drinks.

Ohno felt a light stab in his heart when he noticed – admittedly not for the first time – the look on Nino’s face as the younger looked at Sho and thankfully took the stuff he handed him. There was it again, this look, a look the other didn't give to anyone else. Of course, Ohno had noticed it already, even if he had hoped, it wouldn't be true. It would be a lie, if he said he wasn't jealous. But most likely, Ohno had already lost the battle with Sho long time ago, even if his rival as well as Nino still weren’t fully aware of it. 

However, Ohno wasn't ready yet to fully give up and push Sho into Nino's arms or the other way round right away and it would be better if Nino figured things out by himself anyway. So for now, Ohno made use of the situation and as a little revenge for his defeat, he grabbed Nino's hand again, firmly, and didn't let go of it during the whole movie, smirking at Sho while the latter was shooting death glares at him. 

TBC...


	8. Punishment and Pancakes

“Sho-chan?”

Sho cringed slightly as he got pulled out of his well owned sleep from somebody tapping his shoulder. He groaned, dared opening one eye to blink at his alarm clock which told him it was not even 7 o'clock in the morning. Considering that it was summer holidays, his mind blanked again. He grabbed the pillow he was clutching in his arms firmer and turned around, his back to that horrible person that had the nerves to disturb him that early.

He murmured something that was supposed to be a “Leave me alone” but most probably turned out more like an “Uff ma awwn...” and pulled his blanket over his head.

“Shooo-chan~!”

This time, Sho got poked in his back through his blanket. And again and again. Harder. Wait... was this Nino's voice? Sho actually considered for a second to turn around again and to check, asking what was going on but honestly, he didn't want to move at all. So, even _if_ it was Nino (well, who else could it be in their apartment? Smart, Sho, really smart) he in the end didn't move. He was honestly just too dead.

There had been a last paper Sho had to hand in until the deadline of yesterday midnight, which the young student had _completely_ forgotten to finish, due to the distraction of a certain someone who had nothing in mind but how they could have more and more fun together during summer holidays. It had been a huge shock to Sho when he found a reminder e-mail by his professor in his inbox a few days ago, asking wondering why Sho hadn't handed in his work already, since usually he was one of the first doing so. Sho then had shocked found a draft of his paper in one of his desktop folders, abandoned and not even half finished. He had studied his ass off then to still meet the deadline like he always did. Writing papers usually wasn't such a big deal for him because he enjoyed it a lot, but the short amount of time had almost killed him – from an overdose of coffee and a huge lack of sleep. And in fact, this was actually to blame onto one person.

“Sho-chan, are you awake?” Nino asked, this time carefully, in a low voice.

His heart just cringed, teared apart between turning around to hug his crush and throwing him out of his room so that he could continue sleeping and so he pushed his blanket from his face. Of course he couldn't be mad at his roommate, it was his own fault for missing deadlines, Sho knew that. And who could be mad at that cutie anyway? Sho couldn't and so, he also couldn't ignore him any longer, half-dead or not. He turned around, now at least half-awake and faced Nino – his heart of course deciding on the wish to hug his crush rather than throwing him out of the room. The young man was sitting in front of Sho's bed, darting his hand camera at his friend and watching him with his super-cute face and high expectations. What was this supposed to become, “Nino's research data #384795 – How it looks like to wake someone up ridiculously early on a day off”?

“What's up, Nino?” Sho asked, frowning. “Why are you awake already?” Maybe Sho's vision was still blurred, but he had the feeling that somehow, the other looked a bit sad.

“I can't sleep... and I'm bored...,” Nino answered with his too adorable pout and let his chin rest on his knees as he was still sitting in front of Sho's bed, the camera holding onto his roommate.

Sho couldn't believe it. “You're bored... So _that's_ the reason for waking me up? There's no emergency like you being sick, no food in the house so that you're threatened to starve or anything like that?” he tried to joke.

“Nope, I'm just bored,” the younger answered sincerely, shaking his head slightly and if Sho didn't _like_ Nino that much, he would probably _really_ throw him out of his room at that point.

“What about your… homework, isn't there any movie project you have to work on or something like that?” Sho asked, searching for something that might keep the other busy so that he could at least sleep for another one or two hours.

“Hm... I've finished all of my homework already.”

“Really?!” Sho was surprised since they were only two weeks in holiday yet and he honestly didn't really remember seeing Nino actually _working_ on something lately (except from filming him casually). But well, he didn't know what the other was doing at nights, usually, maybe that was when he had his creative phases. “Well... you know that I had to finish that stupid paper and barely made the deadline, I'm seriously dead since I didn't really sleep in 3 days and you wake me up at 7 in the morning just the day after?”

“Apparently...”

“And you still think, it was a good idea to wake me up because you're _bored_?”

“...Yes?”

It was obvious that Nino had one of his _“I need attention”_ days again, which Sho knew just too well already. The younger just couldn't be alone for longer than... a few hours maybe and since that fishing trip with Ohno, it had become worse. Maybe, Sho had spoiled the younger a bit too much, but then, how was he supposed _not_ to? 

Another wave of tiredness overwhelmed Sho as he remembered how hard he had worked lately. He reached up his hand to rub his eyes while he was yawning. “Aren't you tired?”

“No,” Nino said.

“Why didn't you call Ohno or Aiba?”

“I did...”

“And?” Sho lifted an eyebrow and Nino sighed while he let his finger trace the pattern of Sho's bed cover that covered the man's chest, which distracted the other pretty much.

“Ohno doesn't wake up no matter how often I call him and Aiba isn't in town since a few days, visiting family, you know...,” Nino explained then and Sho tried to focus onto the other man again.

“Oh... OK, so on top of everything, I'm actually only your third choice,” Sho tried to convince himself, that he wasn't jealous now. And failed. But then, Nino said something that made his heart skip a beat.

“Actually, Sho-chan is my first choice but since it's your first day off, I don't want to bother you... but now I have no other choice...,” the boy looked at him with his infamous puppy eyes.

Sometimes, Sho wondered if Nino was pranking him constantly with his behavior. And in fact, if what he said _wasn't_ supposed to be a prank, Sho would laugh about how wrong this comment was. Not that Nino _bothered_ him but let's say, he didn't always have the best timing when he wanted to spend time with the other. Having him around while studying or working on papers, had led Sho to a concentration challenge on a whole new level.

Anyway, he just couldn't ignore the happiness and excitement, the words “first choice” out of that small man's mouth triggered in his chest and felt much stronger than anything else right now. Sho didn't really know what to answer to that statement, though. He was just too stunned and too busy to concentrate onto not blushing too badly (which he was sure didn't really work) but Nino didn't see it anyway since he had dropped his camera as well as his eyes to the edge of Sho's bed, filming the seam of his bed sheet, seemingly sulking.

“I'm sorry, I'm too impatient, I guess. Are you mad at me now?” the boy then asked in a low voice, still not looking at Sho.

The older just sighed and finally, his lips curled up into a smile that he couldn't suppress any longer. He was just a hopeless case if it came to his roommate. How could he ever be mad with him?

"Have you been lonely?"

"A bit…," Nino admitted with slightly pursed lips.

“I'm sorry. What do you want to do today?” Sho finally asked, rubbing his cheeks to wake himself up.

Nino looked surprised at him, his expression turning into a happy smile as he realized, that Sho wasn't mad at him, “Ah... I don't know, maybe watch some movies together? If you're really too tired... you can continue sleeping on the couch?”

Sho chuckled over this cute suggestion and smiled at his roommate. “Alright, but first, I think, I have to punish you for waking me up so early,” he said then in his most serious voice and finally sat up, throwing back his blanket.

“Eh?” Nino wondered.

Sho brushed his hands through his bed hair and readjusting the wide collar of his shirt that exposed maybe a little too much skin. He cleared his throat, his voice sounded still a bit heavy from sleep and he crossed his arms, darting a serious look at Nino. “Come here.”

Nino watched him, confused and didn't react any further. Sho then patted onto the spot on his mattress next to him and repeated his demand and then, Nino finally stood up just to sit down right there. He was still holding his hand camera and darted it at his roommate, the red light indicating, that it was still recording. Curious, he continued looking at Sho.

“Put away your camera, please.”

“Why?” Nino asked innocently.

“Because it might get damaged.”

“What are you planning to do to me?” Nino now looked almost scared and Sho had a hard time to keep his serious face.

“Just put it away.”

After hesitating for a moment, Nino put his camera onto the bedside table, the lens focusing onto him and Sho (who knew, maybe the following was worth getting recorded?) and crawled back next to Sho, anticipating his “punishment”, whatever it could be.

Sho's grin turned wider as he saw Nino looking at him with big eyes, like little Red Riding Hood might have looked at the wolf as she met him deep in the woods. Then, he finally started his attack.

He lifted his hands, turned his whole body towards Nino and started _tickling_ the other mercilessly. Nino immediately started to squeal. He cringed, trying to protect his body from Sho's tickling but it was hopeless, he already had fallen victim. When he tried to crawl out of Sho's bed, the other grabbed Nino's waist to pull him back, causing Nino to slip on the mattress so that the boy eventually was lying on his back like a helpless beetle, pulling his hands and knees close to his body while trying to push away Sho's hands.

Sho knew exactly, that Nino was super ticklish, not that he ever had tried it himself before, but he had already spotted other people tickling Nino slightly now and then to tease him and of course, he hadn't missed the effect onto the younger. Now, this was seriously funny, Sho thought and his tiredness was blown away in an instant. He couldn't help but fall into laughter while Nino had arrived at a state in between screaming, laughing and crying, until Sho finally showed mercy and stopped, on top of the younger.

Sho was still laughing like he had never experienced anything funnier in his whole life and even held his stomach which started hurting from all the laughter. While Nino caught his breath again from the tickle attack, still lying underneath Sho but finally relaxing his body again. He darted his look up, right into Sho's eyes, who was still laughing.

“I didn't know that you're _that_ ticklish, Nino,” he chuckled then, grinning about the thought how adorable he found that fact.

It was just then, when Sho realized, how _close_ he still was to Nino actually. He looked down into Nino's dark eyes which were shining from the excitement. He saw Nino's slightly sweaty forehead, strands of his black hair sticking to it. Nino's breath was hitching, his chest busy with pulling in more air, his lips slightly parted. Sho let his look wander further, adoring the cute mole on Nino's chin, following a small trace of sweat running down his neck. He gulped heavily.

Even before Nino could reach out his hand to push the other away, Sho quickly rolled over to the other side so that he showed his back to Nino. He must have blushed deeply, considering his burning cheeks. He could feel something awakening between his legs, and grabbed his pillow again to hug it close and to hide his embarrassment.

The younger man next to him calmed down finally. “Well, now you know,” Nino murmured and it sounded, like he was pouting.

“What, are you mad? It was just your fair punishment, that's all,” Sho said, grinning again, and turned his head to spot Nino darting his look at the ceiling of his room.

“... I know,” the other said sulking, turning so that now his back was facing Sho.

Sho's heart beat raised again as he came to take in the whole situation again. There was Nino - on whom he had a crush on since the first moment he saw him – lying in his _bed_ only one touch away, panting and sweaty. Of course the circumstances were different from those he had usually was dreaming off but... For now this was more than good enough, considering Sho's position towards the other. They were still just simply roommates, Nino too innocent to realize that Sho actually _liked_ him and Sho too shy to admit it. He hugged his pillow firmer.

Nevertheless, he didn't want to leave this maybe once-in-a-lifetime chance go to waste and when he remembered Satoshi taking every single little chance he could take to be close to Nino, Sho felt that he should finally start doing the same. So, Sho pulled all of his courage together, turned around and slowly lifted his arm. Then he abruptly threw it around Nino's waist, cuddling close to the other from behind – of course his pillow still between them, just to make sure – but his forehead touching Nino's back.

“Eh?! Sho-chan?!” Nino cringed surprised and chuckled, trying to turn around to see what Sho was doing but the other held him in position.

“I'm going to sleep for another couple of minutes and you patiently have to wait, you get me?” Sho then said firmly, hiding his red flushed face at Nino's back.

The other didn't reply and just let things be. Of course, Sho wouldn't fall asleep again, there was too much adrenaline pumping through his body right now, he was holding _his crush_ in his arms after all, lying with him in the _same_ bed, for God's sake. He didn't mind using this little lie of wanting to sleep for a few extra minutes as an excuse to make the best out of this situation. His heart was pounding like crazy and Sho almost got dizzy from the warmth spreading from Nino's body that he could feel through the fabric of his shirt and the pillow between them, as well as from the typical, slightly sweet smell of the other. No, he wasn't creepy, Sho told himself, and he was just... having a crush...

“Uhm... Sho-chan?” after a few minutes, Nino shuffled a little but didn't turn around. "There's something I wanted to ask you…"

Sho's heart skipped a beat at the insecurity of what Nino would be up to say and he froze for a second. Would he ask him why Sho touched him like that? Tell him, that he didn't like it? (But then, wasn't it Nino who got touchy with his friends in first place usually?) Or tell him how strange Sho's behavior was? (It couldn't be stranger than Nino's, could it?) Well, he could still pretend to be asleep, couldn't he?

“I'm hungry, will you try making pancakes with me?”

Sho laughed before he hummed against Nino's back. "Sure, why not."

~*~*~

"I swear, _this_ was _not_ my intention!" Nino stated defensively, his eyes glued to the ceiling.

"I _told_ you, it's a bad idea to flip the pan like that if you're as inexperienced as we are," Sho grumbled, looking too at the mess he and his roommate had created.

Nino tilting his head and then made big puppy eyes at Sho, the frying pan still in his left hand. "It looked fun on that TV program lately and I thought it's completely easy…"

"If it was so easy, we wouldn't have ended up with that mess up there," the older student pointed out the obvious, pursing his lips. Though, he ended up chuckling amused as he saw Nino's disappointed expression, the cute pout adorning his face just too cute.

"Well, well," Nino sighed. "Then let's clean up. You help me?" he put away the frying pan and took one of the kitchen chairs and started climbing it, Sho hurrying towards him to hold the chair so that it wouldn't fall over.

Just a minute later, while the two men were busy with trying to remove some sticky pancake dough from the ceiling, the kitchen door banged open and made them cringe in surprise. From the shock, Nino almost crashed down from the chair he was standing on, if Sho didn't react so fast and grab his hips firmly to stabilize him, blushing at the unexpected close body contact as the other leaned his hips against Sho's face and reached a hand down to grab his shoulder for not losing balance completely.

“Sho-kun, I'm ba-,” the newcomer, wearing a baseball cap, sunglasses and a huge backpack, started his greeting but quickly got distracted from the view in front of him. He removed his sunglasses, looked up and frowned. “What the hell did you do to my kitchen?!”

“Jun!” Sho exclaimed, a big smile forming on his face. “I didn't know that you'll come to visit, why didn't you tell me? Wait, do you still have a key?!”

“Didn't you get my postcard yet? I announced my visit there. And yes, I have one, just in case,” the young man answered casually, still staring at Nino who he had obviously interrupted while trying to get the mess up there cleaned up. “So, why exactly are you cooking on my kitchen ceiling?”

“To be exact, Jun, this isn't _your_ kitchen any longer. You're not living here anymore,” Sho dared to point out. He gave Nino a slight push to make him stand straight again and finally let go of him, to approach Jun.

“Ah, I'm sorry. Force of habit,” his friend chuckled and finally put down his backpack.

“However, let me greet you properly,” Sho said and hugged Jun enthusiastically, who chuckled and answered the gesture joyfully. “What are you doing here?”

“Checking if you're still alive and what should I say, I can't believe, you're actually cooking, Sho-kun!”

“We were a bit too enthusiastic maybe,” Nino murmured as he let the mess be a mess and decided to jump down from his chair. He wiped his fingers in his pants and smiled at the new guy. 

“Jun, this is Nino btw. Nino, my former roommate Jun and I dare saying he was my only friend before you barged in here and brought your friends into my life with you," Sho introduced the two to each other. 

Jun, grinning because he knew quite well already from his friend's countless e-mails, _who_ exactly Nino was - reached out his hand (surely a gesture he had taken over from his travels, Nino thought) and smiled at the smaller man friendlily. “Matsumoto Jun. Pleased to meet you and thanks for taking care of my Sho-kun here.” 

“Nice to meet you too,” Nino answered, a bit shyly shaking the young man's hand. 

Jun was standing next to his old friend now, his elbow leisurely supported by Sho's shoulder and still eyed the ceiling critically. Nino looked at the newcomer critically too, and tried to ignore the small stab in his heart that he felt when Jun called Sho _"his Sho-kun"_. Surely, he was putting too much meaning into this.

However, when a blob of pancake dough dropped from the ceiling on top of his head, smearing his hair, Nino had other problems to deal with.

**TBC...**


	9. About Friendship and Nudity

"Sho-chan, we don't have rice. Or noodles," Nino yelled from the kitchen. 

Sho, who was sitting on the couch in the living room with Jun, looking at a huge collection of pictures from his friend's journey, excused himself and stood up, going to Nino. He poked his head in the kitchen, wondering, and watched the young man rummaging through their – apparently not so well filled – stock of food in the several spaces.

"We can't make dinner consisting just from spring onion, soy sauce and one sweet potato…," Nino murmured when Sho came closer and hunkered down, looking over his shoulder in one of the lower shelves, to help him check.

"That's really everything we've left?!" the older wondered. Well, they used up the last few eggs in the morning for their pancake session and so they didn't even check if they were short on rice. 

"I'm sorry, I forgot to write rice on our shopping list when I threw away the last empty package," Nino said, standing up. He wondered. "When did we go buy groceries the last time?"

"It's been too long, obviously," Sho chuckled. "Well, either we have to go shopping now or we order something," he suggested but even before Nino – with sparkling eyes – could suggest his favorite delivery service, the two got interrupted by their guest who had shown up in the kitchen as well in the meantime.

"I'll go buy some things, let me know what you need," Jun offered with a wide smile.

Sho smiled thankfully but lifted his hands to waive them in a negating gesture. "Jun, really, you don't have to, you're our guest!"

The other chuckled. "I pushed myself onto you and I'll be lodging here for free for some days, it's the least that I can do. And I also need some things so it's not that much of a detour. Just give me your list, I'll go right away."

"Alright, thanks then," Sho nodded and turned to grab a small piece of paper, adding a few ingredients, before he reached to his pocket to get out some money.

"I'll go with you!" Nino chimed in, enthusiastically, to Sho's surprise.

"Eh?" He didn't expect the other to offer his help to Jun, who was still a perfect stranger to him. In fact, Sho even wondered, if Nino maybe disliked the newcomer, since he was keeping a critical eye on him ever since Jun had entered their apartment's kitchen some hours ago.

"You might need someone to help you carrying the stuff," the young man said, turned at Jun. "Right?"

The other exchanged a wondering look with Sho, who just shrugged, and then answered. "Oh well, sure, why not."

"You can stay here Sho-chan and… set the table," Nino said determined.

"OK…," Sho agreed, wondering if there was a reason that Nino obviously didn't want him to join them. He could ignore the feeling but he was a bit too confused about it and so he decided to just let it be.

"Alright, let's go," the younger student said before he received the list and money from Sho and went to the entry hall to get into his shoes.

~*~*~

"You seem a bit nervous. Ninomiya-kun was it, right?" Jun tried to get a bit closer to his shopping companion as they were searching for dinner ingredients in the nearby super market. 

The young man nodded. "Yes, you can call me Nino. And I'm not nervous, Matsumoto-san."

"Are you sure?" Jun raised an eyebrow and pointed at Nino's hands clenching the shopping basket firmly. "You're hands are shaking."

"I'm… freezing," Nino replied.

"It's summer."

Nino blushed. "However," he murmured and trolled away toward a freezer to get some frozen vegetables. Jun tailed after him.

"Is there something you want to talk to me about, maybe?" the cheerful man went a step forward, towering the small student. He smiled. "Is that why you insisted on accompanying me?"

Nino looked at him before he averted his eyes. "Uhm…"

"About Sho?" Jun guessed.

"…" 

And he guessed right. The young man smirked and when Nino resumed walking, he kept up walking right next to him. "What do you want to know?" he asked.

Nino stopped. He looked at Jun, frowning and giving an insecure impression. "I…"

The other man nudged him playfully. "Come on, I don't bite."

It took Nino another walk toward some shelves filled with different types of rice. He pretended to search for a specific brand and as he still ignored Jun, the taller guy reached for two random rice packages and let them drop into Nino's basket, stealing his excuse to not answer. 

"Ask me anything," he encouraged the young student again.

Sighing, Nino turned around and finally parted his lips. "I would like to know what… who you are, how you two are connected and… yeah…," he slightly blushed again.

Again, Jun smirked. That little guy was indeed a cutie. Maybe he could relate to Sho's feelings a little bit. "Alright," he started. "You already know who I am. You want to know more about my relationship to Sho, right?" Nino's eyes widened and Jun made a mental note that he maybe shouldn't tease the boy. He chuckled. "Don't worry, I'm talking about friendship. Nothing else."

"Of course, I know you're talking about friendship!" Nino pouted.

Jun smirked devilishly. This was so cute! "Are you jealous?"

"I'm not jealous, I'm just curious… are you his best friend?"

"Hm…," Jun tilded his head. He and Sho had been quite close, considering that Sho had been more the loner when they started living together. "I guess you could say so?"

"I see…," still there was this cute little pout on Nino's lips.

"Is that a problem for you?"

"Well, I hoped he could become _my_ best friend," the young man spit out.

Jun broke into a smile and tried to hide it behind his hand. " _Your_ best friend?"

"Yeah, because you see… I like him a lot. And I think we get along well." Adorable. Nino was just adorable, Jun thought. The young man continued. "He'd be perfect for my best friend."

"Obviously," the taller guy agreed, nodding slowly. This was really amusing. "But I heard you have a lot of friends, don't you have a best friend already?"

"I do have some friends, yes, but…"

"Sho is special?"

Nino tilted his head. "…Somehow." 

Jun was squealing internally. Judging from Nino's still reddish cheeks and his shyness shining through the conversation, Jun assumed that there was at least a small possibility, that this whole thing wasn't about wanting to be friends but that maybe, there was more going on within Nino regarding Sho. Seriously, he couldn't wait to tell his friend about this. "You're too cute."

Nino frowned. "What?"

"Ah, nothing. You know, I'm not against it if he and you become best friends or whatever."

"You're not?" the young man's eyes sparkled slightly.

"No," Jun shook his head. "Sho likes you a lot too. He'd be happy if he knows that he's important to you. Maybe you should tell him."

"You think so?"

Sure, and you know what?" Jun winked at the student. "I'll support you."

"Really?" Nino showed Jun his first, really sincere smile since they met, and it was like the sun was blending Jun. "You know what? You're pretty nice. I was a bit skeptical but, I think I like you."

"Then we should become friends too."

"Sure!" Nino smiled.

~*~*~

"He's cute, Nino," Jun stated as he helped Sho preparing dinner while Nino had vanished to his room to pick up one of – as Sho had noticed already – those pretty rare but always quite long phone calls of his mother

"I know," Sho answered automatically, without noticing his confession.

He then froze at the wondering thought why Jun would say something like that about Nino in his presence. Was he just stating facts? Or... Sho turned his head, giving his friend a questioning look. Maybe even a too worried look but… what if this meant that a new rival had appeared just now? Dealing with Ohno was hard enough, but dealing with Jun as a rival would be impossible!

"Ah, don't worry!" Jun chuckled and warningly pointed at the knife Sho was holding to prevent any domestic accident. "I just mean, I can see why you like him. He's so innocent, it's almost impossible. He's really adorable."

Sho sighed relieved, blushed and put the knife away. His heartbeat increased. It's different to stand here and talk to his friend about this topic, different from exchanging e-mails. It was definitely more embarrassing but probably, it was the only chance for Sho to talk to someone about it at all. 

"He really is but… dealing with him can be a bit… difficult," the young man tilted his head.

Jun laughed out loud and slapped his friend's back, playfully, causing Sho to choke on air. "I can totally see how his innocence knocks you out. It's disarming. But you know, I think things are pretty good. He said, he thinks you two are getting along well."

"Well… we are," the other answered. "But everyone gets along well with him. In this aspect, he's pretty uncomplicated. But even if we get along, I'm not sure if we're close or not. He has many friends and is very open minded. He likes everyone and everyone likes him, you see?"

"To be honest, I think, in the beginning he didn't really like me," Jun pointed out. "And I think, it's because he considers you two as close," he flashed his friend a meaningful smile.

Sho frowned. "What do you mean?"

"He told me he wants to be your best friend," the taller guy smirked.

Sho gave him a puzzled look "What? My best friend?"

"I think he felt jealous when I appeared," Jun chuckled. "That was pretty cute."

"Jealous? Nino?!"

Jun hummed, knowingly. "I guess jealously isn't exactly an emotion he shows often, right? I think he was a bit confused."

"Why should he be jealous?" Sho asked, frowning.

"Really, Sho, you're almost as oblivious as he is, get yourself together!" again, Jun slapped Sho's back, laughing. "He's jealous because we're good friends. He said, he wants to be your best friend but I think, maybe he wants to be more than that, but he doesn't know it yet. Too innocent to realize."

Sho sighed, ruffling his hair, worried. "Damned, now you woke some hope within me… that doesn't make it easier, you know?"

Jun continued laughing. Sho felt a bit mocked over his friend's amusement. "Maybe you have to be a bit more demanding? I know you, you're a coward and – sorry to point out – a little strange with people. Did you ever ask him out for a date?"

"… I didn't. Not _directly_ ," Sho admitted shyly and it wasn't a surprise for his friend at all. "We're going out, mostly together with friends, but we're not _dating_. I'm pretty sure he doesn't even get the meaning of that word."

"Then explain it to him," was Jun's blatant advice. "I think you have to be brutally direct with that guy or he won't get it."

Sho sighed again, nervousness painting his face. He clenched his chest; his racing heart was almost driving him insane. "What if he turns me down?"

"What if not?" Jun shot back.

"He seems completely uninterested in love," Sho argued.

"My guess is, he just doesn't know much about it," his friend replied, challenging. "You're giving up before trying? You want to stay just friends with him, forever?"

"What's your advice, Jun?"

"I think you should make him think about love."

"Easier said than done…," Sho tilted his head, his eyes closed and eyebrows frowned. 

How was he supposed to do that?! It was impossible, even if he could find a few words to address to Nino, he'd die from shame. When the door banged open, Sho cringed, almost cricking his neck. He whirled around, spotting Nino coming back.

"Hey guys," the boy said as he barged into the kitchen. He wend a few steps closer to Sho, looking at the progress of dinner preparations. "You're slow, Sho-chan, let me cut the vegetables," he said and took the knife, after pushing Sho away carefully. "So, what did I miss?"

Sho immediately blushed deeply and started stammering. "No-nothing. Nothing at all."

"Coward," Jun hid behind a cough. 

Nino just looked at him, wondering, before he resumed finishing Sho's task skillfully.

~*~*~

"Hey guys, what do you think about going to the bath house nearby?" Jun suddenly suggested as they were eating their meal together about an hour later, sitting around on the low table in the living room.

Sho froze and almost dropped his chopsticks. "What?!"

"All together, after dinner?" Nino exclaimed excitedly, his eyes shining bright.

"Yeah, it's been so long since I went to a Japanese bath house, I kinda miss this, you know? Aren't you two going to the bath house together sometimes?" the visitor asked, his eyes wandering from Nino, who was shaking his head, to Sho, who was shaking his head with even more force and with a not so amused expression on his face, compared to Nino. Jun ignored it and chuckled. "Alright, so let's finish up here and then we'll take a stroll thereto. It will be fun!"

"Sounds great!" Nino answered and continued eating a bit faster, obviously drawn by the idea.

Sho instead leaned over to his ex roommate, who was digging in heartfully, and gave him a desperate glare. Jun then chewed a bit slower and put down his bowl.

"Ah, I'm sorry Nino but do you have some salt? I forgot where you put it in the kitchen," Jun said, flashing the young man sitting across a smile.

The student took a look around on the table and then jumped up with a "Wait a second, I'll get it for you."

"Thank you very much!" Jun smiled again and as soon as Nino was out of ear's reach, he leaned to Sho. "What? Don't you like the idea?"

"Going to the bath house together, seriously?!" the student hissed. "Do you want to _kill_ me?!"

"You'll thank me, you can take all your time to shamelessly check out Nino's naked body there and nobody would even find it strange," Jun winked meaningfully.

Slowly, Sho shook his head. "You're a devil, really, a _real_ devil."

"Wow. Such a strong compliment," Jun chuckled. "I'm helping you here, just in case you didn't get it."

"But… this is… it's impossible!" Sho hissed. "This is too embarrassing!"

"Looks like you're the only one thinking this, did you see how excited Nino is? I think he really likes the idea," the younger man grinned at his friend, leaving him blushing and took a sip from his can of beer.

"I don't-," Sho wanted to protest but Jun cut him with clicking his tongue.

"Don't say you don't _want_ to see him naked, I know you're lying," the younger man nudged his friend, grinning even wider, returned to his bowl of food and they ended the topic just in time when Nino entered the living room again. 

"Here you go, Jun-kun," the young man said as he placed the salt next to him.

"Thanks, Nino."

Sho sighed, hiding his face behind his hand as he started rubbing his forehead nervously.

~*~*~

Sho couldn't believe how checkless Nino was about this whole thing. He seemed excited like a kid, especially since he told Jun and Sho on their way to the traditional bath house that it's been ages since he went there the last time, together with his late grandpa and that he was happy to go there together with them now. 

As soon as they had paid the entrance fee and received the small keys for the lockers in the dressing room, Nino had started pulling off his shirt while still walking. It was like he couldn't get rid of his clothes fast enough and he didn't even bother to put a towel around his waist, just holding it in front of him to hide his member (and even this was probably not on purpose). While Sho, still half dressed, his cheeks red and his eyes wandering from Nino's slim silhouette to his cute, firm butt, Jun was wrapping his own towel around his waist, hiding his manhood. 

"Hurry, Sho-chan, Jun-kun," Nino said, after he ran to the entrance to the bathing area, waving at the two men excitedly.

"Go ahead, Nino, we'll follow," Jun said, his hands on his hips and a smirk on his face. "Sho-kun is a bit slow."

"I'll go wash my hair first then," Nino replied nodding and vanished through the curtain.

Jun looked at Sho who was half hiding behind his locker's door, trying to hide his red flushed face, and laughed, reaching at his hand to slightly box his shoulder. "Come on now, close your mouth, you might start drooling."

Embarrassed, the other man shut his mouth – no, he wasn't drooling – and blushed. "I won't!"

"Now get out of your clothes, Nino is waiting inside," his friend encouraged him. "Don't be so shy."

"I'm not shy," the other grumbled and finally pulled off his shirt, disheveling his hair in the process but not paying attention to it. He grabbed his towel, wrapped it around his waist and then reached underneath to pull down his trousers and shoes to stuff everything into the locker.

"What is that?" his friend asked chuckling when Sho finally closed the locker and was holding a black-red striped large pouch in front of him to hide… well… let's say, the young man's heart wasn't the only thing excited at the moment.

"There's my shampoo and shower gel in there. And this is not a girl's pouch, just in case you have any complains," the student defended himself before his friend could say anything more.

"You know that you can use the free stuff in there, right?" the taller man wanted to confirm.

"I know, but I prefer my own stuff," Sho pouted.

Jun shrugged. "Alright, alright, let's go now."

"You go ahead," Sho made a gesture with his hand and when Jun started walking with a sigh, he followed him, slightly hiding behind his friend's large back.

When they entered the bathing area, Sho took a shy look around, searching for Nino, even if he felt the urge to just hide around the corner and not join the other men while washing their hair and taking their bath. He wasn't ready for this. Nino, half-naked after showering, at home was enough for him already, he was pretty sure that he would not be able to cope with a _completely_ naked Nino now. Not only that it was embarrassing to see each other naked – at least when you _liked_ the other - he was also afraid that he could maybe show a little too much of his excitement and he wasn't sure how he should hide it just under a thin towel. One thing was sure for Sho, he would _not_ go into the water without any towel. Never!

Nino seemed to be busy already, sitting on one of the footstools in front of the shower places, his towel just placed loosely on his lap, his head a puff of foam from shampoo, and he was smiling widely when he was talking to an old man from the neighborhood. His joyful laugh could be heard through the whole bath but instead of complaining over the noise, some other men seemed to join laughing, amused by the young man. Jun went forward, taking a seat on a stool next to Nino, while Sho chose a spot on the opposite site, facing his two friends with his back. He put down his pouch, let some water run over his head and pulled out his shampoo, starting to foam his hair. 

"You look like you've gotten a white afro, Nino," Jun joked behind Sho's back.

Nino chuckled. "I know, I guess I took a bit too much shampoo."

Sho tried to ignore the joyful voices behind him, tried not to think about naked Nino just a turn away.

"Shall I wash your back, Nino?" 

Crap...

"Oh, that would be helpful, thanks, Jun!"

Sho just couldn't ignore _this_ though and so he whirled around, just to meet Jun's mischievous grin who was looking into Sho's direction on purpose – of course, the devil was challenging him. Damned. Even if Jun had said, Sho didn't need to worry, he was teasing him. And he was enjoying it. Yes, his best friend was a devil. 

The student turned around again, and tried to mute his pounding heart. No, he didn't want Jun to touch _his_ Nino but what could he do? Offer to do it instead? But he would die from embarrassment and wouldn't it be strange? Quickly, Sho turned on the water of the shower, letting the shampoo getting washed away by the cold liquid, hoping the coolness would help him to calm down. He let the water run for a bit longer, which helped him to blend out his surroundings and indeed, he calmed down a bit – that was until he suddenly felt a soft sponge brushing over his neck. Surprised, he turned his head and spotted Nino, his wet hair flat on his head - he looked so damned cute -, his flawless skin shimmering from the water drops and his adorable lips smiling at him friendlily. Sho was ready to melt. He averted his eyes again when they slowly wandered downwards where definitely _no_ towel was in sight any longer and faced forward again.

"Shall I wash your back, Sho-chan?" the young man asked behind him, bending down to reach Sho's ear, causing the other to shiver slightly, but didn't even wait for an answer before he started foaming his friend's back properly. 

"Uhm, thanks…," Sho just murmured, bringing his nervous hands together in his lap. 

He hoped Nino didn't see his red cheeks. Or his... no, he couldn't see it from behind, no worries, Sho told himself. He didn't say a word while Nino was washing him for a few minutes, his the sponge as well as his other cute small hand running all over Sho's back. The student's heart almost burst out from his chest when Nino leaned forward to grab the showerhead and in the process pressed his own naked chest against Sho's foamy back. The closeness almost killed Sho, this was just too much for him. After getting rid of the foam on Sho's back as well as himself, Nino placed the shower back in front of Sho and invited him to follow him into the large bath at the end of the room, steaming from the hot water. 

Jun was standing next to the young student already, waiting for Sho to join them but Sho just smiled at them shyly, promising he would follow in a minute and that they should go ahead. The devilish smile on Jun's face told him that the other was already assuming his _little problem_ and thankfully, he showed mercy and prompted Nino to go ahead with him, to reserve a nice place for the three of them. As promised, just about a minute later, when Sho had finally calmed down, he followed the others, wrapped in a towel, another, smaller one drenched in cold water on his head. 

Obviously, Nino had to pull himself together not to play around like a child, as it seemed, following Jun's instruction not to swim in the bath to not disturb other visitors. Slightly pouting, the boy then resumed to just play a bit with the water with his feet and waved at Sho joyfully as he joined them.

"Aren't you getting too hot, Nino?" Sho asked worried, a few minutes later. "Your face is completely red. Why didn't you bring a wet towel for your head?"

"I thought I won't need it."

"Come here," Sho said and took his own small towel to brush it over Nino's hot cheeks and forehead before he placed it on top of Nino's head. Unfortunately, it wasn't really cold any longer though, just a little bit but it was better than nothing, he assumed.

"I guess, I'll better get out now," Nino said just a minute later and pushed himself toward the edge of the bath, ready to leave. 

"Nino, are you OK?"

"Uh uhm yeah, I'm OK."

This said, the young man climbed out of the bath – Sho averting his eyes to not stare at Nino's naked butt again shamelessly – but it seemed to sway a little and so, Sho jumped up too, just in case he needed to support the other. 

"Are you sure, you're OK?" Sho asked again.

"I'm just a bit oh… dizzy, don't worry," the other said.

Nino didn't crash down but swayed again as he turned his head to smile at Sho, showing him that everything was OK. Sho had been relieved too early though because with Nino's next step forward, the boy seemed to step on something – a piece of soap maybe? – and slipped, yelping as he threatened to lose balance. 

Quickly, Sho took a big step forward, not noticing that the knot of the towel around his hips loosened, and reached his arms out toward Nino. The young man, in the process of falling, pulled Sho with him, who had put his hands underneath the other's arms to catch him, and so both of them crashed to the floor. However, while Sho hit his head slightly on the tiled floor, Nino landed on something warm and soft without getting hurt – Sho.

"Guys! You OK?" Jun yelled, storming out of the water too to reach them. 

Nino was kneeling on the floor now, turned toward Sho who sat up, rubbing his head.

"Sho-chan! Did you get hurt?" he asked, slightly panicking, reaching his hands at his friend. "You aren't bleeding or anything, are you?!"

"Ouch…," Sho groaned. He brought his hand forward and gladly, there was no blood on his fingers. "Don't worry Nino, I'm fine."

"Thank God!" the boy sighed. "I'm so sorry, really!"

"It's OK, don't worry," Sho smiled at him and thankfully took the hand Nino offered him to help him up.

Jun tapped on his friend's shoulder and when Sho turned at him, he cleared his throat before pointing down. "Good you didn't get hurt but... just wanted to say - you're naked."

"What?!" Sho looked at him puzzled, then followed the young man's look and quickly brought his hands in front of his body to cover himself.

"You lost your towel," the taller man grinned, amused about his friend's reaction.

"I get that, thank you very much for pointing out!" the other pouted.

"Here, Sho-chan, I found it," Nino handed him the drenched towel that he had picked up from the floor.

Sho grabbed it quickly, putting it back in place. His head was almost as red as Nino's now, just that the heat flushing Sho's face wasn't caused by the hot water but his embarrassment.

At home they watch a movie together, Nino falling asleep from the hot bath (like a kid, Jun stated amused) and leaning his head against Sho's shoulder, amusing Jun with that behavior too. 

"Seriously, you two are too funny," Jun chuckled.

"We're not!", Sho protested while he reached for a blanket and pulled it over Nino. The three had decided before that Nino would leave his bed to Jun for a few nights – it had been his originally, after all – and so Sho tried to make him the most comfortable bed possible. 

When Nino in his sleep reached at Sho's hand to hold it and the other blushed deeply, Jun snorted.

"You are!"

**TBC...**


	10. Tell me what you want to do before you will die... just hypothetically

It was a nice, not too sunny, not too hot summer morning and Jun, Sho and Nino were standing in front of the huge gates to Tokyo's most busy amusement park. The screams from people using the wildest roller coaster attractions could be heard already, and the music from various small booths was jingling in the air behind them. Still, they didn't line up for getting their tickets, but instead were standing a bit aside from the entrance.

Jun, wearing the probably biggest sunglasses he could find, was crossing his arms in front of his chest and tapping his feet to one of the numerous melodies from the back. Sho was standing there, the plan of the amusement park unfolded, and most likely, he was already mentally planning the quickest and most efficient route they could take to reach all the attractions he wanted to visit. Nino, wearing a colourful cute baseball cap and a backpack, which made him look even younger than he actually was, was standing in between the two others, and nervously shifting from one foot to the other. His chin was lifted and his eyes widened, checking out each and every person that came up the stairs from the nearby underground station. He grumbled slightly.

"Oh-chan is late!" the young man finally complained out loud, throwing a pouting look at Sho, as if he could do something against that fact.

His friend checked his watch before he faced Nino with a smile, amused by the younger man's impatience. "He's only ten minutes late, maybe it's the traffic. Give him a few more minutes."

"But I want to go in there!" Nino protested and turned around to rattle at the tall fence that was separating him from the amusement park. "Now! I can't wait!"

"I know, I know, just a little longer," Sho replied, trying to keep Nino from rampaging and then – in an attempt to distract the student – showed him the plan he was holding. "Come here and tell me what you want to visit first."

"Everything," Nino pouted stubbornly, not even willing to give the plan a quick glance. "Well... maybe not the roller coasters," he then murmured feebly.

Sho arched an eyebrow in surprise. "Oh, you don't like roller coasters?"

Nino blushed, as he scratched his neck, slightly embarrassed. He finally let go off the fence. "To be honest, they make me feel sick..."

"Well, I understand that," Sho nodded sympathetically. "When you're up in the air and rushing down and up again and... yeah, my stomach doesn't exactly feel excited either then. And if it's too high I'm getting scared."

Jun snorted with laughter before chiming in the conversation. "Seriously, guys? What's the point in visiting an amusement park if you both are not planning to get on the roller coasters?! What are we even here for then? You know that more than half of the amusement park consists of these things, don't you?"

"Well and the other half doesn't," Sho shot back, showing his friend a specific area on the amusement park's plan to make his point clear.

"No, but it consists of tea cup carrousels, food booths and the haunted house. Great alternatives to the _real_ fun," his friend countered ironically.

"Uh oh, haunted houses...," Nino murmured, his limbs stiffening.

Sho blinked in surprise. "Don't tell me, you're also weak with haunted houses, Nino?"

"Well..." The young man tilted his head, an insecure quirky smile on his lips.

"I promise, I'll protect you from the ghosts," Jun said in a sing sang voice, leaning over to the smaller guy and putting his arm around his shoulder.

Nino's face blanked. "I knew it, there _are_ real ghosts in there, am I right?!" he asked in a frightened whisper, giving Jun a seriously worried look.

The taller guy pulled off his sunglasses, eyebrows furrowed and a straight face, and leaned a bit closer to Nino's ear. "Of course, what do you think why they are called _haunted houses_?"

"Oh gosh," Nino's voice almost broke.

Quickly, Sho jumped in between them, putting his arms on Nino's shoulders and making the young man face him. Surprisingly, Nino immediately wrapped his arms around Sho, clinging to his friend, desperately, causing the other to blush slightly.

"Nino, Jun is talking crap!" Sho said in a calm voice, patting Nino's head before he shot his other friend a death glare. "Jun, please! Don't scare him unnecessarily!"

The man just stuck out his tongue while winking at his friend and dared pointing at Nino - who was still clinging to Sho tightly – as if he expected some _thanks_ for this – admittedly very much appreciated – side effect of his bad joking.

"Sho-chan will protect me too, right?" Nino muffled into Sho's shirt.

Sho – his heart melting at the younger man's gesture - couldn't help but hug him close. "Of course, I will protect you, but listen, those aren't real -," but before Sho could finish his sentence, he got interrupted by a familiar voice.

"Hey guys!" Ohno came running, coming to a halt in front of them, catching his breath. "I'm sorry for being late!" 

The young man arched his eyebrows critically as he spotted _his_ Nino clinging to Sho but his face lighted up again quickly when Nino turned his head and focused on him.

"Oh-chan, finally, I've been waiting for you!" the younger said, pouting slightly and finally let go of Sho again – who honestly wouldn't mind to cuddle a bit longer but oh well. 

"So we can finally go inside!" 

Nino beamed and jumped a few steps closer to Ohno, circling his arm around his elbow and starting to pull him towards the gates of the amusement park, looking back at Sho and Jun to cheer his friends to hurry too.

Sho, feeling slightly abandoned by Nino, seeing his friend turning towards Ohno so quickly – slightly lowered his head, the plan of the park in his hand, crinkled. He just couldn't prevent this stab of jealousy from hurting his fragile heart. Jun sighed and pushed his sunglasses back up his nose. He stepped beside Sho to pat his friend's shoulder, making him move to follow the two other guys. Sho lifted his head, facing the other man, hoping for some words that might cheer him up, but instead, Jun punched him verbally.

"By the way, I'm not sure if your plan really worked out, Sho-kun," the young man dared to point out.

He gestured at Nino who was still clinging to Ohno's arm and tried to persuade him to pay for his ticket too. Damned, Sho thought, his pride hurting. _He_ wanted to invite Nino!

"For the records, I _did_ ask him out!" he protested with pursed lips.

"You did not," Jun deadpanned. "You casually suggested going to the amusement park and he immediately sent a mass mail to his friends to invite them to join you. He even invited ME!"

Sho blushed. "That's... that's Nino! He likes spending time with his friends."

"But _you_ wanted to spend time with him alone, didn't you?" Jun sighed again, and if he wasn't wearing those huge dark sunglasses, Sho was convinced he would see his friend looking at him with worry.

"Well... first and foremost, I want him to have fun."

"That's nice but you should have made clear that you wanted to go on a _date_ with him."

"It's good enough for me for now so cut it out, Jun!" Sho pouted, not willing to admit his defeat. He knew, Jun meant good, criticizing his way of dealing with the situation, and he really appreciated that but it was the best he was able to do.

"You're a helpless coward, Sho-kun," Jun sighed but the annoyance in his voice was soon replaced by passion. "But well, good thing you have me here now. Leave it to me. First, it's good that we made the numbers even so that we can split in pairs. Stick close to Nino. "I'll take care of his friend there, what was his name, Ohno?"

Sho nodded. "Yes, Ohno Satoshi. He's the one having a crush on Nino, the arts student and the one who invited us – I mean Nino – to that boat trip. I told you about that, you remember?"

"I remember, I remember," Jun nodded. "OK. So make sure that Nino's focus is on you. Talk to him. Ask him things. Enjoy your time together. Invite him to the attractions, _only_ him. Then it will be like a date during the group outing."

"Sounds like a plan," Sho admitted, taking a nervous deep breath.

"And at the end of your _date_ you'll invite him for a new one – making clear that you want to do something with him, only, alright?" Jun grinned, patting Sho's shoulders again, encouragingly.

The other blanked, scared. "I do what?!"

"You can do it! Or do you want things like this to happen again?" Jun hissed, pushing his friend forward.

"OK," Sho took a deep breath, focusing onto Nino some meters ahead. "I can do it!" he told himself as he and Jun approached Nino and Ohno but then his heart sank again. "No… I can't…," he whispered, turning his head desperately to his friend.

"Don't be so shy!" Jun patted Sho's shoulders. "What will he do? Bite you?"

Sho freaked out and turned to his friend, looking at him desperately. "He will turn me down."

"You won't know when you don't try. He always agreed on doing things with you so far, didn't he?"

"But it weren't dates!"

"And? Just explain to him that you want to be alone with him because you like him. He will be happy, I guarantee!" Jun hissed, remembering his conversation with Nino in the supermarket a few days ago.

"Don't be silly!" Sho blushed, still refusing to dare hoping.

Jun shook his friend's shoulder heavily. "Just ask him!" he nagged him.

"No!" the other stayed stubborn.

"Shall I ask him for you?" Jun offered with a roll of his eyes.

Sho looked at the taller guy with horror painting is face. "NO!"

"Sho-chan! Jun-kun!" Nino suddenly yelled at them. "Come on now, we're getting started!"

The young man waved at them excitedly, four entrance tickets for the amusement park in his hand, spread like a small fan. He jumped up and down slightly, his face adorned by a wonderful smile. The two friends walked up to him and Ohno, where Nino started to hand out the tickets to each of them with a broad smile.

"Stranger, you owe me 3.800 Yen," was the first thing Ohno – who looked slightly pissed, Sho noticed - said to Jun, not even facing the other man properly, but holding out his hand, demanding. "Sakurai-kun, you too."

"Here you go, thanks for getting the tickets," Jun said, flashing Ohno a gorgeous smile, not the slightest affected by the other's gloomy mood, while he and Sho handed over some bills.

As soon as the four men finally entered the amusement park, Nino, in awe let his stunned look wander over the scenery as if he had never been to an amusement park before (and honestly, Sho wondered if this was maybe true, remembering that Nino's childhood seemed to have been kind of weird). Sho unfolded his slightly crinkled plan again and gestured everyone to gather to figure out where to go first.

"I want to try this one, I saw it on the news and it's super popular and super-fast and has the most loops ever," Jun immediately pointed at the highest and most exciting looking roller coaster he could find and Ohno nodded in agreement.

Challenging, Jun threw a look at Sho, knowing from their previous conversation that the other wouldn't want to come along. Sho eyed Nino who looked a bit worried, seemingly not excited about the premise of riding the "Loop Monster".

"This looks dangerous," Nino murmured, frowning.

"Too dangerous," Sho added, looking at the younger man. Maybe, this was his chance. Rather than making himself look like a coward, he could suggest a save alternative and maybe, Nino would come along with him. "Uhm…," Sho continued, studying the plan again, but at first, nothing interesting came to mind.

The teacup carrousels that Jun had mentioned before were surely not the attractions he was aiming for. Not only that it was first and foremost way more popular among young girls than grown up men, but also, if Nino had a weak stomach on roller coasters, spinning around like crazy was probably not the best choice of the day, either. Nor the haunted house… Sho internally cursed his lack of creativity. There was only one thing he could think of.

"I suggest you guys try the Loop Monster while I'm going to check out the shooting galleries and stuff. I can also get us some snacks. What do you think?" Sho suggested, trying to sound casual.

"Sounds good!"

Jun agreed immediately, babbling something about not having had proper breakfast since Nino had been so eager to start that they left the apartment before they could grab a bite. Ohno didn't seem against the idea either, probably because he didn't really care about having Sho around anyway. When Sho looked at Nino, the younger's expression seemed to light up.

"What about you, Nino?"

"I want to go with Sho-chan," Nino insisted.

"Really?!" Sho asked, his voice breaking dangerously as his heartbeat went crazy. His plan seemed to work!

"What?! Nino, don't you want to ride the roller coaster with us?" Ohno asked surprised.

"Ah you've not been there when those two cowards said they are weak with roller coasters. I know, unbelievable, but -," Jun explained to the other whose eyes widened in disbelief.

He chuckled while Ohno said something about missing the most fun if not going on roller coasters, and promised the other man to ride as many with him as he wanted. He earned a satisfied smile by Ohno who seemed really excited and turned to go ahead after waving to Nino.

"Have fun, guys!" Nino chimed. 

Just before he followed the smaller man, Jun leaned towards Sho's ear quickly, a grin on his face as he whispered, "Good Luck."

"Shut up," Sho hissed, shooing his friend away before Nino – who was looking at them a bit confused now - could become too curious.

"Please take care of these for me, Nino," Jun said as he pulled off his sunglasses and placed them on top of Nino's baseball cap. The younger man smiled and nodded.

After arranging a time and place with Sho to meet a bit later on, Jun hurried away, quickly catching up with Ohno and flashed him a friendly smile as he tried to start a conversation with the guy on their way to the roller coaster attraction. 

"You're Ohno-kun, right? I heard about you. You like fishing?"

"Uhm, yeah," Ohno replied, a bit surprised.

"Nino told me," Jun clarified quickly with a chuckle. "That you love painting and fishing. You know, on my journey, I went to a trip to Lizard Island in Australia; it seems to be a really famous fishing spot. Did you hear about it?"

"Of course I did!" Ohno's eyes widened in excitement. You've been there? Did you try fishing?"

"In fact, I did!"

"Really? That's cool!" Ohno smiled at the other. "Did you catch something?"

"No, unfortunately I don't seem to be talented," Jun chuckled.

"It's not especially a matter of talent, it's a matter of patience and luck," Ohno replied, surprising Sho with such an encouraging comment coming out of his mouth. "Lots of luck."

Jun laughed. "So you think I've just been unlucky?"

"Probably. Don't give up ah… sorry, what's your name?"

"Jun. Matsumoto Jun."

"Nice to meet you, Matsumoto-kun," Ohno bowed slightly.

In a more terrestrial attitude, Jun reached out his hand with a broad smile. "It's my pleasure."

Sho couldn't help but stare after his friend and Ohno whose backs became smaller and smaller with each step. Jun – as expected from his easy personality – was a master of conversation, true, but he didn't expect that Jun seemed to actually have a good wire to that weird arts student as they seemed to get along well immediately. Which in fact was great because like this, Jun would be able to distract Ohno from Nino and Sho could concentrate more on -

"Sho-chan, come on now, what shall we get?" Nino pulled at his friend's elbow, giving him his cutest puppy eyes.

Sho swallowed before he looked around until he spotted a booth of his liking and suggested, "Do you… do you want… Do you want some chocolate fruits first?"

"Chocolate fruits? Sure!"

"OK, let's go buy some there," Sho smiled relieved, pointing at the selling booth. "My treat."

"Really?" Nino beamed and Sho's heart carolled away.

After enjoying some chocolate strawberries, Sho and Nino continued strolling through the quieter part of the park (read, the part, far away from the roller coasters and the deafening screams coming from the visitors), checking out countless food booths, a couple of park themed souvenir shops and shooting galleries. They carefully chose some snacks that they would share as four later on when they would meet Jun and Ohno again, among others, different flavoured popcorn, some chocolate bars and sandwiches.

In the end, Sho bought a plush panda for Nino that the other had obviously fallen in love with at first sight. At a lottery, Sho won a voucher for a _candlelight dinner_ in a fancy restaurant (to which he would want to try to invite Nino, he swore to himself). The highlight of their small shopping tour though was, when Sho bought a trendy leather bracelet with a nice (not cute!) charm in form of a four-leaved clover for Nino, to which the younger insisted on buying the match to give it to Sho as a sign of their friendship. Sho thought that Nino's gesture was so damned cute that he could die from happiness at that very moment, and he wouldn't regret anything.

About two hours later Sho and Nino arrived at the meeting point they arranged with Jun and Ohno, sharing a drink while waiting for them, which made Sho almost freak out _because of the indirect kisses_ that he tried to ignore (and failed). 

When Jun arrived, chatting excitedly with Ohno, he couldn't stop grinning. His face was bright like the sun, his formerly perfectly styled hair looked like a mess from riding the roller coaster, but he either didn't notice or didn't give a shit. However, he was in completely high spirits, almost as excited as Nino had been in the morning, and couldn't stop telling Nino and Sho how much he enjoyed riding the "Loop Monster" and the "Wicked Mouse" and even the "Boomerang" that he and Ohno had lined up for afterwards – totally worth the wait, as Jun guaranteed. Ohno was smiling widely too, an expression that Sho barely had seen on the art student's face, to be honest, more used to his wicked smirk when he was competing with Sho for Nino's attention. 

Nino listened closely to his friends' report, smiling too, happy that they seemed to have had so much fun. He then handed Jun's sunglasses back to the taller man who took them thankfully and put them back onto his nose.

"Your head looks like an explosion!" Nino chuckled when he saw the completed picture. "You look so silly!"

"Eh? What happened?" Jun asked wondering, turning to Ohno who bit his lower lip not to burst into laughter.

"Wait," the smaller guy said, reaching out his hands to Jun. "May I?" he asked before he carefully touched Jun's hair to fix it a bit.

The four young men continued chatting for a while over the snacks Nino and Sho had chosen for them. Luckily, neither Jun nor Ohno seem to have any problems with weak stomachs so they had a big appetite and gratefully enjoyed the various offers. Sho and Nino listened to another wave of enthusiasm over the amusement parks roller coasters and Jun making Ohno promise that the two of them would go ride the "Cobra" at least once before they would leave in the evening.

"I want to go into the haunted house next," Jun announced, excited, startling both, Sho and Nino.

The younger one blanked, throwing a worried look at Sho who then frowned at Jun. It's not like Jun didn't remember that just a few hours earlier Nino had admitted that he was scared to go in there, especially after the taller had teased him with hinting on the presence of real ghosts there. However, when Jun continued talking, Sho of course noticed his friend's strategy behind this suggestion.

"It would be a nice cool down going in there, it's becoming hot, isn't it?" Jun asked, turned to Ohno, who agreed. "I'm sure you guys can need that too. And we'll go in pairs, as usual. So no worries, Nino, you won't be alone in there and nothing will harm you," Jun flashed the younger a smile before he quickly winked at Sho.

"Are you scared of haunted houses?" Ohno suddenly focused all of his attention onto Nino who nodded shyly. The other's eyes widened. "Shall I go with y-?"

"I'm going with Ohno-kun!" Jun chimed in before Ohno could finish his sentence and everyone looked at him. "Sho, you're going with Nino, alright?

"OK," Nino said after a short silence, taking a deep breath and looking at Sho, determined. "If Sho-chan is with me, I can do it."

"Really?" Sho asked. "You don't have to force yourself, you know?" He earned a kick against his leg by Jun, cursing slightly at the pain.

"It will be fun, you'll see, Nino!" Jun promised and Nino nodded.

As announced, they teamed up with their former combination – Sho and Nino would go first, while Jun and Ohno would follow as the second team a couple of minutes later. Sho wasn't so sure if this was a good idea. He appreciated Jun's efforts to try giving him and Nino as much time alone as possible but the haunted house? Was this really the best option? Well, probably it wasn't the worst either, Sho thought, considering that Nino, a bunch of nerves and definitely waking Sho's protective instinct once more, was already hanging on his shirt's hem with one hand, while he was clenching his new plush panda with the other, ready to visit hell together with Sho.

In fact, _hell_ was an attraction remodelled after an old school building plus the horror. There were large trees surrounding the house like a little schoolyard or forest, causing huge shadows to fall onto the fake school building. Probably, when the amusement park was built, the constructors decided to keep them to enforce the natural feeling, Sho assumed. There was a small path from the entrance, which looked like an old rusty school gate only equipped with an old looking signboard showing the instructions on how to get to the actual entrance of the haunted house. There weren't many people, obviously, most people seemed in the mood for roller coasters and other attractions, so there had been only a short line.

A few staff members – dressed as murdered school girls – were walking up and down the line. One of them, an axe sticking out of her head, handed Nino, who was nervously running his fingers through his hair after he had put away his baseball cap, a small flyer. The young man clenched it, but his hand was shaking, so that he couldn't read the text printed on it. Carefully, Sho took the piece of paper from his friend and briefly skimmed the information written on them. Then, after approaching the entrance further and further, every couple of minutes, it was finally Sho and Nino's turn to set a foot into the building. After receiving a few last instructions at the entrance, Sho grabbed Nino's hand, smiled at him and dragged him inside. Nino yelped and seemed ready to cry already when they pushed open the door and entered into an almost pitch black darkness.

"No need to be scared, Nino, I'm here with you," Sho said when he realized that Nino definitely hadn't been joking when he said he'd be scared. 

He reaching his hand to grab Nino's. However, since his eyes didn't adjust to the darkness yet, he completely missed it and instead stumbled, causing a ruckus that made Nino scream in panic.

"I'm sorry, it's just me!" Sho immediately explained, waving his hand blindly.

In that process, he slightly touched something, which resulted in another squeal from him as well as Nino and when that "something" stumbled on top of him and Sho felt something fluffy being pushed into his face, he could only assume that it was Nino's plush panda. And indeed, when two shaking arms were grabbing – or hitting – Sho knew that it was Nino who was seeking for protection.

"I don't like it here, Sho-chan," the younger man whimpered.

"Shh, it will be fine," Sho replied, putting his own arms around Nino in return, before he made them both stand up. He didn't let go of Nino's hand, who was holding his, firmly. If Nino wasn't so irritated right now, Sho might even enjoy it and become all nervous, but with these circumstances he rather felt like a protector towards the boy. "We don't need to be scared, right? It's not that different from watching a horror movie, is it? And you like horror movies!"

"That's the point, Sho-chan, they are _movies_ ," Nino said, nervously. "They aren't _real_!"

"This here isn't real either," Sho replied calmly. "It's just a construction, an act, the ghosts aren't _real_ ghosts, they are just normal people dressed up as ghosts, getting paid for scaring people."

"But the horror is a real experience!!" Nino sounded so hysterical, that Sho cringed slightly. This was such a completely new nuance of the boy's character for him, it still surprised him.

"Uhm... try to see it as a chance for research," Sho suggested but the waves of horror Nino gave off, made him add. "OK, let's go quickly and we'll soon have it behind us…"

Shortly after, Sho's eyes had adjusted a bit better to the dark, and as they took a few steps forward, Sho could see a dim light at the end of a corridor, seemingly their goal. At least, a first one. Clenching Nino's hand tightly, he dragged the young man behind him, his free hand in front of them, ready to fight every possible obstacles for the other man, if there should be any.

Suddenly, a door flew open with a loud BANG, and a white dressed something came out, wobbling down the corridor while making strange noises, approaching the two men. Nino squealed and hid behind Sho, clenching at him almost painfully, while Sho tried to ensure him that he didn't need to be scared – which was hard to convey since he himself almost suffered from an heart attack caused by the jump scare. He grabbed Nino's hand even firmer and they started to _run_ as fast as they could, passing the _ghost_ and dashing down the corridor, until they arrived at a door. The door was only ajar and couldn't get pushed open any further but obviously was the path to the next stage. Since there were more strange creatures showing up in the corridor behind them, walking into their direction and Nino was about to freak out, Sho decided to push the young man through the door first, following him in one step.

"AHHH!! What the hell was that?!" Nino shrieked when he entered the next, only slightly more lit room.

Sho shortly after felt what his friend must be referring too, something slightly sticky hanging in the air that brushed over his skin when he passed through the door. He cringed slightly, but tried to pull himself together.

"Spider webs, Nino, spider webs, nothing but spider webs, don't worry!"

"I swear, something _touched_ me!" Nino whined, immediately searching for Sho's elbow to cling back to his friend.

"No, that's impossible, don't you remember the flyer? There it's written that nobody will touch you, nobody will harm you, OK?" Sho tried to calm the other man down. Nino was _horrified_.

"But there _was_ something, really…"

"The spider webs, Nino, the spider webs!" Sho repeated, touching the younger man's arm and making him face him. He almost couldn't see his face in the poorly lit room, but he could feel the panic running through Nino's body and he really started to worry for him. Maybe, they shouldn't have come here after all...

Finally, they took in their surroundings, green and blue light revealing just enough to catch _where_ they must have landed. The room they had entered looked like an old abandoned infirmary. There were some medical instruments placed on top of a dusty desk, a stack of paper apparently thrown through the whole room and a half muscle, half bone anatomical model, wearing a devilish grin, standing in a corner. A strange smell was in the air, reminding onto old wet clothes. It wasn't too intensive but it was disgusting enough.

There were no windows in sight, neither was an exit. At least, Sho couldn't see any second door that would lead them out of this spooky room, however, there _must_ be an exit, right? Their walk of scare had just begun, after all. Maybe, behind that stained curtain that was hanging in the middle of the room, most likely surrounding an unused bed… well, would it really be _unused_ if he dared looking?

"SHO!" Nino freaked out as soon as Sho went a few steps forward and reached his hand into the direction of the curtain. "What the hell are you going to do?!"

"We need to find a way out of here and I can't see a door, maybe it's behind this -," the student started, but Nino only clang stronger to his arm, trying to hold him back.

"What if there's something behind that curtain? Or someone?! Can't we just go back? Please? Sho-chan, I'm _so_ scared," the boy whispered, almost crying.

Sho's heart constricted and he couldn't help but take Nino into a tight embrace. He lifted one hand, brushing it soothingly over the boy's hair as he pressed him closer. "Don't be. I'm with you. Nothing will happen to us."

Nino, his face pressed against Sho's chest, shook his head, slightly. "No, I mean really, this isn't fun! I'm really scared, what if we can't find a way out and are going to die in here?!"

"Listen to me, Nino, don't panic! We are not going to -"

But the young man didn't listen to Sho's words, seemingly getting lost in his fear. "I don't want to die! I can't die! There are so many things left to do before I die!" He even started sobbing, and that broke Sho's heart.

"Ah, that sounds like a good idea!" he quickly picked up Nino's comment. "Tell me what you want to do before you will die. Ah... not that I mean we are going to die, you hear me? Just hypothetically," he added.

"Hm... There are so many things...," Nino started and as if it was some kind of spell, his body started to relax a little bit in Sho's embrace.

Sho breathed out, relieved, seeing his tactic succeeding, before he encouraged his friend, "Start listing them. I'm listening to you."

Another thoughtful humming against Sho's chest. "OK so... I want to go to the zoo once more."

Sho chuckled, he probably shouldn't be too surprised about this random wish. "That sounds nice!"

"Will you go there with me, Sho-chan? If we get out of here, I mean...," Nino murmured.

"Sure I'll go with you. Where ever you want to, Nino," Sho said with a smile, his heart melting, happy to be asked for company by the other boy.

"Really? Can we take Aiba with us? He really loves animals, you see?"

OK yeah, why didn't he see _that_ coming, Sho wondered. "Uhm... yeah... sure..."

"And Oh-chan too?" Nino asked, excited. "He loves the aquarium there -"

"Even Oh-chan, if you want to... What about adding Jun to the party?" Sho added after a sigh, slightly sarcastic, but after all, he wasn't able to decline any of Nino's wishes.

"That sounds like a really good idea! We should go on a Saturday after the holidays, when everyone is back."

"Sure." At least, Nino seemed to calm down from his fear, thinking about all these things, so Sho had reached his goal.

"I also want to create a movie," Nino continued. "Not just for university, I mean, a real one... but..."

Sho frowned. "But what?"

"But I'm not sure if I can do it..."

"Why not, you're studying directing after all, aren't you? And didn't you say your grades are good?" the older boy asked. 

"Technically, yes, I'm good with filming and editing and such, but my professors say, my stories lack something..."

OK, now this was completely drifting off into the wrong direction, Sho thought, feeling negative vibes coming from his friend. Not only was it the first time that Nino seemed to talk in more detail about his studies and his – for Sho quite unexpected – sorrows, connected with them, but he also felt like it was not the right time and place for Nino to become worried or depressed because of that topic. Was the scary atmosphere feeding this usually so cheerful and positive boy's thought so much? Probably, Sho should better do something against it, before Nino _really_ would start crying...

"Ah! That reminds me that you never ever showed me your creations, Nino!" It was true, even if Nino was often working on projects, he had never shown one of them to his roommate.

"Hm..."

Sho tightened the embrace around the younger boy. "Before _I_ die, I want to see your movie!" he said, firmly.

Nino lifted his head, darting his puppy eyes at Sho from below. "Really?"

Sho smiled. "Of course! I want to go to the cinema, watching a movie directed by Ninomiya Kazunari. Together with you and all your friends!"

There was a trace of a smile also on Nino's half-lit face now, Sho noticed, relieved. "That would be nice!"

"Right?"

"Let's go on, OK?" Sho suggested, and after a second of hesitation, Nino nodded.

The two boys loosened the embrace, although, still, Sho didn't disconnect their hands, and then, he again reached for the curtain in front of him. After confirming with Nino if he was ready ("No?!"), Sho bravely pulled the curtain open with one quick move, indeed revealing a part of the room _with a door_ at the opposite wall, just a few meters in front of them, as well as two beds, lined up next to each other. He waited, Nino clenching his hand so hard that Sho started wondering if he would break his bones, as his eyes were glued onto the first bed, just a few steps ahead. There was a huge blanket on top of the bed, bulged, as if there was something hiding underneath... but could it be so obvious?

"Come on, Nino, slowly...," Sho whispered and finally started walking.

They passed the bed, his eyes still fixated on it just in case something would move. Nino was behind him, whimpering silently, pressing his face against Sho's back. To their relief, nothing was moving as they progressed further. That was, until they suddenly heard a rattling and a deep groan _behind_ them, and when they snapped their heads in horror to look into the direction, the noise had been coming from, they spotted _something_ chained to an iron chair or something similar, furiously trying to break free.

"KYAHH!!!" Nino shrieked so close to Sho's ear that he almost deafened him, and then he bumped into Sho, who was frozen for a second, before he started pushing him, closer to the door they had spotted before.

"Safe me...," the chained creature groaned behind them as the two men stumbled through the door, slamming it shut, out into another corridor.

Nino was breathing heavily, while Sho was still trying to process what just had happened and trying to figure _what the hell_ that monster had been. The corridor was slightly more lit than the previous room, but just as this thought crossed Sho's mind, the neon lights on the ceiling started flickering, heavily.

"Ah, no, no, no, no, no, please!" Nino whimpered, but then, it happened. 

The lights turned off completely.

"Oh, shit...," Sho murmured. Was this planned? Or was this a power outage?

A sob escaped from Nino, and the young man was shivering as he was clinging onto Sho's arm, desperately, his hitching breath filling the silence. Sho tried his best to calm down his own freakily fast beating heart. Sure, it wasn't like the sudden pitch black didn't make Sho nervous, he couldn't even see anything lying in front of him. But he couldn't lose his nerves now, not when Nino had lost everything already. He had to guide him outside safely, that was the most important now!

"It's alright Nino, it's alright, everything is fine," Sho started talking in his most possible composed voice. "Let's take a few steps, there will be light again, soon, you'll see!" At least, Sho hoped so... he took a few steps forward, pulling Nino with him, who stumbled after him with seemingly frozen legs. "Don't let go off my hand -"

" _Never..._ " an unfamiliar – so no, it wasn't Nino's - voice suddenly whispered right next to the boys and then, the lights went on all together, revealing at least four half-dead people standing in the corridor.

Nino screamed as if he was going to die, before the lights started flickering again and the boy's knees gave in, causing him to collapse onto the floor, only his hand staying connected to Sho's, who followed his friend to crouch next to him.

"Nino!" Sho yelled, touching the boy's shoulder to shake him slightly. "Come on, get up, we need to go on!"

"No," Nino whimpered. "No, Sho, no, I – I can't take this anymore, I can't -"

"But we have to get out of here!" the other pressed, nervously looking around him.

"They are going to get us... they will kill us... we're going to die," Nino sobbed, reaching his other hand up to bury it in Sho's shirt.

Those freaking spooky creatures, _zombies_ or whatever they were supposed to portray, had started moving closer, slowly - _too_ slow, just like it was appropriate for zombies, Sho thought, so this was their chance – but Nino just didn't stop shaking. When Sho tried to pull him up, Nino didn't move, as if his legs were numb, and his body a lot heavier than usual.

"Fuck, Nino, come on! We need to go!" Sho tried to pressure his friend, who seemingly had forgot how to move.

"You... _you_ have to go, Sho," Nino said, instead of working with his friend. "Go, go and save yourself... don't mind me, I'm just... I'm zombie food..."

"Don't talk such crap!" Sho exploded. "I'll never leave you alone in a place like this! You're going with me, we're getting out of here as fast as possible and then, everything will be alright again, you here me? They won't harm us, they won't touch us, they aren't _real_ , Nino! You just need to help me a little bit so come and get up now!"

Once more, Sho pulled up his friend, with all his might, and this time, it worked, even if Nino was still moving only clumsily, almost stumbling over his own feet just a few steps after, when Sho pulled him behind him, along the corridor bathed in flickering light. Whenever he looked at those creatures in front of him, they seemed to have moved, but only slightly, and just as he had read on the flyer for the haunted house, he had to believe that these were only actors, people dressed up as spooky creatures, nothing more, who weren't allowed to touch or harm any of the haunted house's customers. This was all just an illusion to scare people, for _fun_! This shouldn't scare someone half dead!

With this clear thought in mind, Sho's steps sped up. He was still clenching Nino's hand firmly, pulling him to follow him. He would guide him out of here, end this nightmare and make him feel save again, he promised to himself. Yes, he would protect Nino with all his might!

And then, just a few minutes later, everything was over. They had reached the outside, the darkness left behind them, the zombies and ghosts forgotten. The sun was shining down on them and cheerful voices from all over the amusement park could be heard, and it was as if nothing had happened.

Sho had managed to spot a sign guiding to an emergency exit, and considering Nino's state, he quickly had decided to take this path instead of forcing the young man through the rest of the haunted house. It had been easy, just two turns and then there was a door leading them outside of the building, back into the light. As soon as they had stepped outside, Sho had turned around, to catch Nino, who was stumbling behind him, in an embrace.

"Everything's fine now, Nino," he said. "You see? We're outside again, and nothing happened to us, everything is fine!"

Nino immediately wrapped his arms around Sho and pressed himself close into his friend's hug, breaking down in sobbing, as he allowed his tears one last time to spill out, wetting Sho's shirt, but the older boy didn't care, not at all. He tightened the embrace even more, pressing Nino close, and murmured his apologies into the student's ear.

"I shouldn't have brought you in there, I'm so sorry..."

For a few minutes, Nino didn't say anything and just continued crying, until he started to calm down again. Sho then guided the boy towards a near bench to make him sit down and relax. He handed him a tissue to dry his tears and after a last sob and an unexpectedly loud snort, Nino was finally able to look at Sho again. He sniffed one last time, his eyes were red-shot, but the horror was leaving his face and Sho could see that Nino was trying to smile again.

"I'm the one who's sorry," the boy started. "I'm such a coward... to be honest, I didn't even know _how much_ of a coward... I would have _never_ imagined a haunted house to be _so_ scary, really!" he chuckled.

Sho looked at his friend, dumbfounded.

"Was this your first time in a haunted house?" he asked.

Nino nodded. "I've never been to one before. Honestly, it's been so long since I've been to an amusement park... I remember when I was in primary school, my older sister once took me to one. Back then I was too scared to even get close to the haunted house, and we only tried a few attractions, like the labyrinth of mirrors and a small roller coaster for kids, which caused me to puke afterwards... and that was basically it..."

"I see," Sho murmured, finally understanding, why Nino had been _so_ out of the whole thing. It was his first experience of that kind... of course; it must have been even more intense than it normally was for people, even if they were weak with such things. "Are you feeling better now?"

Nino nodded, flashing Sho a smile.

"Good," the older boy said, relieved. "Then let's wait here for Jun and Ohno-kun, OK? They shouldn't take too long, I think."

Another nod followed and when Nino had rubbed his face one last time, and placed his hand on the bench, Sho didn't hesitate and lay his own hand on top of Nino's. Under normal circumstances, Sho might have been too shy to do so, but after what they had went through just a few minutes ago, he felt like it was the most natural thing to do now, and Nino of course let him do as he pleased, smiling at him, happily. The two boys were silent for a short while then, sitting next to each other, and nobody was talking, until Nino started another conversation.

"Ne, Sho...," he said, thoughtfully. "What else would you like to do before you die?"

"Eh?" Sho turned at the boy, raising his eyebrows. He hadn't expected Nino to pick up that question again, at all.

"I'm just curious if there is something that you _really_ want to do before your life is coming to an end. So that you won't regret anything..." Nino added. "Ah, well... you don't have to tell me of course, if you don't want to." 

Nino's lips curled up into an irresistible smile. Those wonderful, wonderful lips... Sho blushed, when he realized the direction, his thoughts were drifting off into, immediately. He averted his eyes from Nino's lips, feeling his cheeks becoming hot. Damned, he must be blushing again. Another look into Nino's curious eyes then, made Sho lose it. YES, there was something he wanted to do before he would have to die. Definitely!

"I...," he started, collecting all of his courage to tell his wish. "I want to... ki... ki-," but it was even harder to pronounce, than expected...

"To what?" Nino cutely tilted his head. This was too much for Sho...

"I want to kiss-," Sho burst, however, the "you" he had planned to add, got stuck in his throat and so the half-finished sentence was awkwardly hanging in the air, until the student decided to close his stupidly still opened mouth.

Nino blinked. "To kiss?" he asked, raising his eyebrows.

Slowly, Sho nodded.

"Hm...," Nino continued, and it was he who ended their eye contact then, as his gaze drifted off. "I would be curious about that too, I guess…"

Of course, Sho knew that Nino wasn't meaning it the same way he did, but for a moment, Sho really considered to volunteer and _show_ Nino what this whole kissing thing was about. He could just lean forward a little more, the distance wasn't that far, and lay his lips onto Nino's, just for a few seconds. It would be so easy…

Suddenly, Nino interrupted the train of Sho's thoughts. "You know Sho...," he looked at him, his lips parted, taking a deep breath. "I mean... if... just in case that... I might be good enough for you, what about... ah, no, forget it." He looked away.

"Eh?!" Sho frowned. "No, wait, what did you mean to say? Nino, tell me!"

"I meant...," the boy searched Sho's eyes again. He looked somehow confused, maybe even embarrassed, something that Sho didn't see often in his friend's face."

"What if _we_ kiss?" Nino asked and Sho's chin dropped.

"...What?" he older student couldn't believe his ears. Did _Nino_ just volunteer by himself to _kiss_ him?! That Nino, who had obviously never kissed anyone before, who didn't even seem seriously interested in something like kissing other people? And did he say "if I'm good enough"? Why would he even think, he wasn't good enough? He really still had no idea about Sho's feelings. He was the personification of obliviousness, indeed...

"Ah," Nino chuckled. "I guess it's not a good idea after all... since we're just friends and all that stuff, right? I'm sorry Sho, forget about it..."

Sho was still too shocked to articulate himself, but his mind and his heart were both running crazy. He couldn't decide whether he should just take Nino into an embrace and tell him that he was the best that ever happened to him, or if he just should pin him down on this bench and kiss him breathless, but if he didn't do or say anything now, that moment would wash away and become something that would never have to be mentioned again, a memory, a faint "what if", a lost possibility -

"AH!" Nino suddenly yelled, causing Sho to startle out of his brain chaos. The young man looked at his arms, before turning his head to his friend again, looking horrified. "I lost my panda!" Nino said, his eyes turning incredibly sad, "I lost the panda you gave me, Sho-chan!"

"O- oh shit, when did that happen?!" Sho asked when he realized that Nino was right. He had been so focused on the happenings inside the haunted house and his task of taking Nino out of there, that he had neither noticed that they had lost the plushie, nor any idea where exactly that could have happened...

"I don't know, I must have dropped him... I'm so sorry! What shall I do?!" the boy asked, desperate.

Sho swallowed. "Uhm... well, I guess then I don't have another choice but go back in there to search for it for you," he offered, standing up, just to be held back by Nino, who grabbed his arm and made him look at him. His eyes were filled with terror.

"But Sho-chan, you can't go back there and die!" the younger man interrupted his friend, tightening his grip around Sho's arm as if he didn't intend to allow him to go, at any costs. "Didn't you promise to go to the zoo with me? And to watch my movie? And you said you want to kiss someone, before you die!"

Sho blushed. He felt flattered by Nino's worries, but on the other hand, he really wanted to go and find Nino's panda. 

"I promise, I'm not going to die! I'll do all the things with you that I promised," he said, but when the worry in Nino's eyes didn't vanish, he felt like he should say something more. Sho's heart was pounding faster again, but he had made his decision. "And actually... there is something else that I want to do," he said, causing Nino to frown in curiosity. Sho took a deep breath. _Now_ was the right time, for sure! "I want to go with you to the candlelight dinner that I won at the lottery! Just you and me!"

Again, Nino blinked, and Sho's crazily pounding heart sank into his stomach. Of course, Nino wouldn't understand what he was up to, what did he even expect? But since the possibility for the kiss was now definitely gone, he at least wanted to create the grounds for something, maybe _another_ chance one day...

"Me and..."

And then, as if timing was – as always – completely against Sho, they were interrupted by no-one else but the distant voice of Ohno, yelling at them from the exit of the haunted house as he apparently finished the attraction together with Jun, who accompanied him as they approached the boys.

"Nino!" the student called, waiving his hand, heavily.

"Oh-chan!" Nino called back, letting go of Sho's arm and waiving back at his friend, happily. Sho sighed.

"Sorry for disturbing you guys," Jun then said with a slightly confused look towards Sho, as if he felt that they _indeed_ were disturbing them, before he turned to the younger student, holding something in front of him. "Nino, I think you lost something."

"My panda!" Nino squealed happily, immediately grabbing the toy and pressing it close to his chest. "Thank you so much, Jun-kun! Where did you find him?!"

"I picked it up inside in the infirmary," the other man chuckled. "Guess it was too scary for you inside there?" When he exchanged a devastating look with Sho, he could only assume how terrible their experience must have been...

"I'm so happy everyone survived!" Nino said, still cuddling his toy, obviously relieved.

"Survived?" Ohno critically raised an eyebrow. "Don't tell me you were really scared, that was the most boring haunted house I've ever visited!"

"You have no idea...," Sho murmured.

"Come on, Ohno-kun, not everybody is as dauntless as you are," Jun playfully nudged Ohno with his elbow, making the other shrug.

"You weren't scared either," the student replied, nodding at Jun.

"Sho-chan, that means you don't have to go back in there and die, I'm so happy...," Nino then said, turned to his friend.

"I told you I wouldn't _die_ in there, you're exaggerating," Sho answered, not sure if he should laugh or not.

"Good thing that everyone is fine, right, Nino?" Jun summed up, putting his hand on his best friend's shoulder while he flashed Nino a smile. "So... what did I hear about candlelight dinner there?"

"Oh, Sho-chan invited me," the young man immediately explained, causing Sho to blush and lift his hands in order to make him stop telling the whole world about his invitation, but it was too late already, as even Ohno jumped in, almost furious.

"You want to go with him?!"

Nino shrugged. "Well, if the food is delicious, why not?"

Jun burst out into laughing, before he pulled himself together again. "Listen, Nino, I think, that's not exactly, what this is about..."

"What else is a dinner about then?" the other boy asked, completely oblivious. Sho sighed, rubbing his forehead.

"Do you know what a _date_ is?" Jun asked Nino cheekily.

"JUN! Leave him alone!"

TBC

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everybody! Yes, this series is still alive, even if it takes me ages to update it. Sorry for that! (And sorry for the horrible chapter title. Tbh, I forgot to give it a title and realised it only when I posted it and couldn't come up with anything better lol.) This chapter is especially for orejinsei (please see it as a (very) late small birthday gift <3) and everyone who has been waiting for it. I hope you enjoy it!
> 
> Sky  
> ♥


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